Late Night Chats and Purple Cats
by itsverity
Summary: "Oh but that's where you're wrong, my dear Granger. It sounds like there's mischief involved, and if there's mischief I'm always there." He smirked. "So, what sort of trouble are you about to get yourself into?" Hermione runs into Draco one night while trying to play a prank on everyone's favorite caretaker, Mr. Filch. What will happen when the two decide to team up?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is going to be at least a two-part story, maybe even more chapters depending on what you guys think. So if you like it PLEASE review, it really means a lot. Hope you like it!**

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Soft sounds of breathing filled the air, letting Hermione know that everyone else had fallen asleep. She slid cautiously out of bed and tiptoed down to the Gryffindor common room. Taking care not to bump into any of the armchairs, she made her way to the portrait hole and peered out, making sure there was no one else around. She needed everything to be perfect in order to execute her plan.

The light patter or Hermione's bare feet echoed along the cold stone walls. Tonight the castle was shrouded in silence. Silvery moonlight was her only source of light, for she didn't dare light her wand in case someone was to discover her.

Suddenly, a pair of arms grabbed her from behind, one hand covering her mouth to stifle her shriek. Hermione turned to meet the eyes of her least favorite Slytherin.

"Malfoy!" she squeaked. "What are you doing?"

"What are _you_ doing? Gryffindor's golden girl shouldn't be wandering the castle so late." He casually flicked the hair out of his eyes.

"I believe I asked you first," Hermione retorted.

"Well I believe I'm a higher blood status than you."

Hermione's glare was so cold that Draco gulped nervously and said:

"Fine. If you must know I'm taking a little stroll."

"At two in the morning?" she scoffed.

Draco shrugged. "I don't sleep much these days."

Hermione tilted her head to the side, studying the boy in front of her. He _did_ look more tired than usual. She also noticed the absence of the word "mudblood." Overall, he seemed a little less… Malfoyish… than normal.

_Must be the lack of sleep_, she thought.

"So, Granger. Are you going to stare at me all night or are you going to tell me what you're doing up at this hour?"

Hermione felt herself blush slightly. So much for him not being annoying. She pushed the hair back from her face and stammered:

"I'm uhhh… taking care of uh.. some business…"

Now it was Draco's turn to scoff.  
"Business? Really? What sort of 'business?'' Draco drew air quotes on the last word.

"The kind that doesn't involve you."

"Oh but that's where you're wrong my dear Granger. It sounds like there's mischief involved, and if there's mischief I'm _always _there." He smirked. "So, what sort of trouble are you about to get yourself into?"

Hermione sighed. "I'm not planning to get caught, so there will be no trouble involved. And if I tell you, you must swear not to tell _anyone_ or I'll hex you into the next century."

"I solemnly swear not to tell anyone of know-it-all Granger's evil plan or may my balls be cursed off." His faced wrinkled at the last part.

Hermione snickered slightly. "A little far, don't you think?"

Draco gave what seemed to be a ghost of a smile before rolling his eyes and saying:  
"Whatever Granger, just tell me."

"Well… do you remember how last year someone turned Mrs. Norris purple?" An evil grin spread across her face.

Draco's mouth fell open in shock.

"No way. That was you? I thought it was the Weasley losers for sure."

"Nope, all me. Fred and George couldn't have done it anyways, they like to get credit for their jokes too much. Anyways, I think it's about time I paid another visit to Filch's dear cat."

Draco shook his head. "Really, I didn't think you had it in you. What did he ever do to you anyways?"

"Now we come to the oh-so-shocking revelation of the fact that you don't actually know me, Malfoy. And he gave me detention for trying to turn a book into the library past curfew and then made fun of me the whole time. Said I read too much."

Draco tried to hide his amusement by coughing into his hand.

"I don't think he's the only one who says that…"

"What?" Hermione raised one eyebrow.

"Uhh.. I mean.. I'm so helping you get back at him this time."

"I don't remember asking you to join me," she said slowly.

"There's no way I'm missing out on a chance to mess with Filch. Do you know how any times he's put me in detention? Don't worry your bushy head, I'll be great help."

Hermione considered this for a moment.

"Fine. But if you tell anyone I'll—"

"I know I know, hex me into the next century. I've got it. Now let's move."

"Hey, it's my plan. I give the orders."

"But I'm the guy."

"So?"

"That automatically makes me in charge."

"Um no it doesn't?"

"It does. And should I mention that I'm a pureblood?"

"Not if you want to keep that pretty hair of yours, ferret."

"Err, okay. But seriously we should probably go ahead and get this over with."

Hermione scowled but said:

"I guess so. But if you mess anything up I'm coming after you."

This time Draco gave a real smile. "Got it, crazy."

Hermione shook her head and grinned as she and Draco moved swiftly towards the chambers of an unsuspecting man and his not-so-lucky cat.

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**Again I hope you liked it! Stick around if you want to see Filch's reaction to his cat being turned purple :O**_  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! So I had a lot of free time today, so I've already gotten the second chapter. This will definitely be longer than a two-part story...**

**Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter :)**

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Hermione awoke the next morning groggy and confused. Slowly the events of the night before came back.

_Okay. So I ran into Draco Malfoy who was __**almost**__ pleasant, and then we put a color potion in Mrs. Norris's water bowl to turn her purple…_

She smacked her hand to her forehead. How could she forget? The two had argued over how much of the vial to put into the water and ended up accidentally dumping the whole thing in:

_"Granger, what are you doing? That's not nearly enough potion!"_

_ "It's plenty Malfoy! It worked last year so it will work again now."_

_ "But it has to be __**better**__ than last year. No one likes the same trick to be played twice. I thought you were supposed to be smart!"_

_ "I __**am **__smart. We can't put too much in or we might hurt the cat. Now leave me alone."_

_ "Whatever, no one's ever died from a little color changing potion. Now give it." Draco swiped for the vial._

_ Hermione jerked her hand away. "No! It's my prank, I get to do what I want!"_

_ Draco grabbed her hand and tried to pry the bottle from it. "Well, you lost complete control when you asked me to be your partner. You're so bossy!"_

_ "Excuse me!? I didn't ask you to come with me you prat! You just bothered me until I said yes! Now let go!"_

_ "No." He tugged the bottle towards him._

_ "Yes!" She pulled it back."_

_ "Granger. Give. Me. The. Vial." He pulled the bottle with so much force that it slid from Hermione's hand, pulling the stopper out in the process. _

_ The two stared in horror as the entire contents spilled into Mrs. Norris's bowl. _

_ "Now look what you did you stupid ferret!"_

_ "What!? It's not MY fault you're a control freak!"_

_ "Shh! Stop talking for a minute!" Hermione whispered frantically._

_ "See what I mean? You're always trying to tell people what to do. You're not the boss o—"_

_ Hermione clamped her hand over Draco's mouth. "I'm serious, I thought I heard something. Let's just leave okay?"_

_ Draco nodded in agreement. They ran out of the room and parted at the staircase, Hermione going towards the Gryffindor common room, and Draco heading towards the dungeons._

Hermione continued rubbing her temple, hoping that she didn't accidentally kill Mr. Filch's cat, no matter how rude he was.

"Hey Hermione are you okay?" questioned Pavarti Patil. "Better hurry up or you'll be late for breakfast!"

She sighed and slipped out of bed. "Yeah I'm fine; I'll be down in a minute. If you see Harry and Ron tell them to go on without me."

"Okay!" Pavarti flounced off, leaving Hermione alone with her worries.

When she entered the Great Hall she scanned the table for Harry and Ron. After spotting them she quickly slid into the seat across from them.

"Hey Hermione!" Ron shouted cheerfully.

Harry looked at her quizzically. "Are you okay? You look _really_ tired."

"Um yeah fine, I just stayed up later than I planned, you know, reading and all…"

All questions were quickly forgotten as food appeared in from of them. Ron began eating everything in sight as if his life depended on it while Harry searched the table for some bacon. Too anxious to eat, Hermione picked at her breakfast and glanced at the Slytherin table. To her surprise she found Draco watching her. He smirked before turning to talk to Blaise Zabini.

The usual morning chatter was shattered by an ear-splitting yell:

"AHHHHHHHH! THEY'VE DONE IT AGAIN! THEY'VE DONE IT AGAIN!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch Mr. Filch stagger in, carrying something in his arms.

_At least that means she's alive_ thought Hermione.

"Who did what again, Argus?" asked Dumbledore calmly.

"They… trickster… purple… again!" he spluttered.

The rest of the staff looked at him curiously.

"LOOK!" He thrust Mrs. Norris into the view of everyone in the Great Hall.

The entire student body burst into wild laughter and cheers. Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth. Instead of a light purple as she had planned, Mrs. Norris had turned a violent shade of violet. Even her whiskers had turned purple, much to the amusement of everyone except Filch. Once again she looked over to meet Draco's eyes.

_Told you, _he mouthed.

Hermione rolled her eyes and began to laugh along with the rest of her friends. Fred and George looked extremely impressed, jealous even that someone was able to pull of such a subtle yet hilarious stunt.

Once the laughter died down people began to whisper, trying to figure out who could have done this.

"It's alright Argus. I'm sure professor Snape will be able to create an antidote." Dumbledore tried to reassure Filch.

"Yes," Snape drawled. "But I'm afraid it will take a day at least."

"I don't want just an antidote! I want justice!" cried Filch.

Dumbledore smiled. "I assure you, we will look into finding the culprit, but don't become too hopeful. Whoever did this was probably clever enough to cover their tracks. Now students, the excitement is over so I'd like you all to go get ready for whatever classes you have today."

Everyone grumbled as they went off to retrieve their books.

"UGHH we have potions today," Ron moaned loudly. "It's going to be the worst!"

Harry nodded sympathetically.

Hermione, however, found herself almost looking forward to having class with a certain blond Slytherin.

_Almost_, she thought.

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**Hmmm how's this going to play out? Follow if you want to know ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**So this might be the last time I'll update so quickly... I have a few more chapters, but I don't want to post them all at once just in case I get busy and can't write for a while. Thanks to those who have read so far :)**

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All throughout the day Hermione had been anticipating potions, itching to talk to Draco about their success. However, now that it was actually time to go to the class, she was suddenly nervous. Obviously she wouldn't be able to talk to him during class; they were supposed to hate each other.

_Wait I'm thinking as if I actually think of him as a friend right now! No that's not what's happening, he's an arrogant jerk who just happens to be more fun when sleep-deprived._

Having resolved not to even acknowledge Draco, Hermione immediately felt herself relax. Instead she decided to tune into Harry and Ron's conversation.

"… I mean they really did it this year! Last year the cat was just a little purple, but today… Wow. This bloke really stepped up his game."

"What makes you so sure it's a girl, Ron?" Hermione inquired.

"I don't know," Ron mumbled. "It just seems to well pulled-off to have been by a girl."

Harry cringed. That was exactly the kind of comment that would set Hermione off into a rant about women's rights and how they're discriminated against. And she looked like she was about to, but for some reason held back.

"Okay, Ron. Whatever."

Ron seemed a little bit confused as well, but no one was able to give the strange behavior too much thought for they had arrived at the door to Snape's cold classroom.

"I hate having class in the dungeon," muttered Ron.

The trio took their normal seats, Harry and Ron sharing a table and Hermione partnering with Neville. He smiled and said:

"Hi Hermione! How are you today? What'd you think about the purple cat incident this morning?" Hermione grinned back. Neville's kindness always made her happy.

"I'm great, Neville! I thought it was… interesting. I definitely liked the choice of color this year."

Neville laughed and they continued to discuss various pranks that had been pulled over the years. Because of this, Hermione didn't even notice the group of Slytherins enter the classroom. Consequently, she didn't notice the glower Draco aimed at the back of her head, sullen about the lack of recognition.

Snape strode into the classroom and everything went silent. He nodded at the Slytherins and glared at the Gryffindor's in a typical Snape-like fashion.

"Due to today's event, we will be discussing the antidotes for color-changing potions. I think it will be useful just in case someone happens to slip a bit into your morning pumpkin juice. There's nothing worse than ending up with pink hair and not knowing how to cure it…."

"Sounds like he's speaking from experience," whispered Harry. Ron sniggered.

"Potter! Weasley!" he barked. "Five points from Gryffindor! Do not talk while I am speaking. Now class, turn in your textbooks to page 134…"

As Snape droned on Hermione felt her eyelids growing heavier. Because Draco decided to tag along, her late night excursion lasted longer than she had anticipated. Resting her chin on her hand, her eyelids fluttered closed.

Meanwhile, in the back of the classroom, Draco was plotting just how he'd be able to talk to Hermione without being suspicious. Obviously they weren't _friends_, but they needed to discuss the outcome of last night's events. He glanced over at her to see that she had fallen asleep.

_What is she doing? Does she want everyone to know she's responsible for turning the damn cat purple? _

Hermione jerked awake when she felt something hit the side of her head. It was a crumpled piece of paper She turned around to see who had thrown it.

_Open it_, Draco mouthed.

Glancing around furtively, Hermione un-wadded the note. Confident that no one noticed what she was doing she began to read.

_Granger,_

_ Stay awake! If you fall asleep now everyone will become suspicious. Honestly, for a smart person you're awfully clueless. Luckily, you have me, master of all things stealthy, to help you out. Anyways, I feel we need to discuss the success of yesterday's plan (largely due to me, I might add). Meet me in the library at 8. You shouldn't have any trouble finding it seeing how you practically live there._

_ DM_

Quickly she scribbled something else at the bottom of the page. She managed to stay awake for the remainder of the class. When it was over she grabbed her bag and her note and walked towards the door. As she walked past Draco she turned and spat:

"Don't throw things at me you prat!" She then flung the note at his head and strutted out the door, Harry and Ron close behind.

"You guys go on, I'll catch up to you later. I uh… need to ask Snape something." Draco waved off his fellow Slytherins, and obediently, they left. He un-folded the paper.

_Malfoy,_

_ "Master of all things stealthy?" Really? You should be able to come up with something better than that. I wouldn't say you were the reason for success either, but we can clarify that later. _

_ HG_

_P.S. I think "Draco Malfoy, master of all ferrets" sounds a bit better, don't you think?_

Draco smiled and shook his head. She was never going to drop that ferret thing. Slowly he made his way back to his common room, trying to decide how he was going to tell Hermione his plan.

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**Now that I'm posting this, I feel like I should post the next chapter in the next couple of days so you can at least see where I'm going with this... Let me know! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**So after this chapter, I think I'll try and do a once a week thing for however long I decide to make the story. This one's kind of short and probably not as funny, but I've posted a lot this week. **

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"So, who do you think did it?" Harry asked.

A group of Gryffindors had created a circle in the corner of the common room. Amongst them were Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins.

"I'll bet it was a Ravenclaw," stated Fred.

"Yeah, it was creative, but it didn't have that Gryffindor flair," added George.

Ron laughed. "It was obviously a Slytherin, they're always doing stupid things!"

"Please. No self-respecting Slytherin would resort to turning a cat purple, " scoffed George.

"Well, what if it was a Hufflepuff?" inquired Ginny. At this everyone burst into laughter.

"Right. A Hufflepuff doing something devious. You kill me, Ginny," said Ron between gulps of air.

All day people had been asking the same questions, discussing the perpetrator of what had become known as "The Purple Cat Incident." So far people had determined that there was no way it was a Hufflepuff. They're too nice. Everyone agreed that it wasn't nearly so bold to have been done by a Gryffindor, and that it was just too boring for a Slytherin. Therefore all of the suspicion had been thrown towards the Ravenclaws, much to the relief of Hermione. So far no one had considered that more than one person had been involved.

Hermione glanced towards the clock; it was 7:50. Time to go meet Draco.

"Hey guys, I've got to go do something in the library. I'll see you later."

"Bye," they all said in unison. Hermione was in the library so much that no one bothered to question what she was going to do.

Hermione walked cautiously into the library, unsure of where she was actually supposed to meet Draco. She decided on a fairly secluded table in the back, silently hoping that he wouldn't try to kill her while they were hidden.

"I see you made it," hummed a voice in her ear, causing Hermione to jump. Draco grinned mischievously, noticing how nervous she was.

"Umm, yep. Here I am…" stuttered Hermione.

"So," Draco said, taking on an air of authority. "I think you should be thanking me."

Her uneasiness disappeared at once. "For what, exactly?"

"I made your plan work, of course!"

"No, it would have worked just fine without you, actually. I would've gotten more sleep too."

"But if I hadn't been there, Mrs. Norris wouldn't have been as purple, therefore it would have been less funny. So really, I did help." Draco puffed out his chest. "I'm great, huh?"

"Yeah, greatly irritating. There's no way you would have been able to pull off that prank without help. You almost got us caught, oh 'Master of all things stealthy.'" Hermione said sarcastically.

Draco frowned. "You're a lot more sassy than I remember."

"Maybe you haven't been paying enough attention. I _did_ punch you in the face, remember?"

"Right, that was the worst day of my life. That must have been when I started noticing how deep down you're actually kind of evil…"

"What!? I am not evil!"

"Yeah, sure you aren't. Anyways that's not what I wanted to talk about," Draco continued quickly before Hermione could get another word in.

"Ookayy… what's up?" asked Hermione, suddenly apprehensive again.

"Well, despite our… differences… I think our plan went rather well yesterday…"

"Right…"

"So, I was thinking, what if we teamed up to play even more pranks?"

"You're not serious!" exclaimed Hermione. "Why on Earth would I want to do that?"

"Think about it," Draco said seriously. "We'd make the best team—no one would suspect you because you're a goody-goody, and me… well I'm just awesome." Draco smirked, pleased with his reasoning.

Hermione considered this for a moment. "And you would actually want to work with me? I thought that would be beneath your standards," Hermione muttered darkly.

A strange look crossed Draco's face before he said:

"Well, I'll admit the situation isn't ideal. But I can't deny that you're pretty smart. I think that we'd be able to wreak some havoc around this place, make life a little more exciting. What do you think?"

"… I think… I'm in. But only as long as we don't do anything too insane."

"Yes! Operation 'Cause Chaos around Hogwarts' will commence soon."

"Really, you're awful at coming up with names. Could you pick something less wordy and obvious?"

"Well fine Mrs. Know-it-all, what do propose we call it?"

"Hmmm… how about Operation 'Moonlight?'"

"Moonlight?"

"Yeah, because when we prank people it will probably be dark, so the moon will be out… you know."

"Whatever, I guess we can use that."

Hermione grinned. "Good. So… maybe we should both brainstorm some ideas or something?"

"Definitely, though I've already got our next move planned." Draco smiled deviously.

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Patience Granger, patience. All will be revealed in time. Now, I have to go. I have business that needs attending." He left, leaving Hermione feeling quite overwhelmed.

_What have I gotten myself into?_

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**As always, please follow/review! And if you have any ideas for what they should do you can message me or post it in a review. I really like hearing what you guys think about the story :)  
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	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Here's chapter 5!**

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"So, it's kind of redundant, but I think it will be a good way to establish our presence. Plus I want to see how Snape reacts."

Draco and Hermione had decided to meet again at the same spot in the library. He had just finished explaining the first prank they were going to play.

"Hmmm. Okay, but do you have more color changing potion since _somebody_ used it all last time?" She looked pointedly at Draco.

"Ugh, get over it Granger! I already apologized for that."

"What? No you didn't! All you did was tell me how you made the purple cat incident better!"

"I didn't? Well, that's not really surprising. Anyways, back to our plan." Draco pulled a small vial out of his robes. "See this? I swiped it from Snape's cupboards earlier… Don't look at me like that, he didn't see who did it!"

Hermione's face had turned into a mixture of outrage and irritation. She did not agree to steal things, only to pull pranks!

"Malfoy! You're completely sure? I do not want to get detention because of this!"

Draco sniggered. "You do realize that pranking all of the staff simultaneously would get you detention too, right?"

"Oh, right," Hermione said in a small voice.

"Don't worry, I won't let you get in trouble. Can't be ruining your golden reputation."

_Wait a minute_, Draco thought. _That was almost nice! What is wrong with me? It's one thing to stop calling her mudblood, but I can't be __**too**__ friendly!_

A confused look crossed Hermione's face. "Thanks… I think…"

"Yeah, whatever," Draco dismissed his earlier statement with a wave of his hand. "Meet me near the kitchens at one o'clock tonight." He stood up and left without another word.

The day passed quickly. Hermione could barely focus on her classes because her mind kept wandering to what was going to happen later. Not only that, but had Malfoy been actually _nice_ to her? Maybe it meant nothing, but still a small part of her wondered if he had actually changed a little bit.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together in their usual group in the common room. Hermione was pretending to study potions, and Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess, having given up on homework long ago. It was getting late, and people were beginning to trickle upstairs to bed.

Ron let out a yawn. "I win again, Harry. I'm pretty tired, so I think I'll head on up to bed."

"Me too," Harry agreed. Before he reached the stairs he turned around and said:

"Don't stay up too late, Hermione! Goodnight!"

"Night, Harry. Night, Ron," Hermione said timidly. Harry didn't know, right? No, there's no way. She settled back into her armchair and waited for the rest of the common room to empty out.

_Where is she!?_ Draco was pacing up and down the corridor in front of the kitchens. It was already 1:30 and there was no sign of Hermione. He was about to give up and go forwards with the plan itself when he heard someone running down the hall. Glancing around the corner he saw Hermione hurrying towards him.

"About time, Granger! What took you so long?"

"Sorry," she replied breathlessly. "Lee Jordan would not go to bed! I'm not sure what he was doing but he eventually got tired, I guess. I had to hide up in my dorm for a while though so he wouldn't get suspicious."

"I guess it's okay this time. I was about to do this all by myself," he said in a mock pitiful voice.

Hermione hit him lightly in the arm. "Oh, get over it you big baby! Did you remember the potion?"

"No," he drawled. "I came all this way just to forget the potion."

Hermione sighed. "Come on, let's go. Hopefully the house elves are asleep."

Cautiously the pair entered the kitchens. Much to their relief the place was completely empty. Long tables stood in the room, directly lining up with the house tables above. However, Draco and Hermione had eyes for only one table: the staff table.

There were three pitchers for pumpkin juice. In each one Draco poured a portion of the color changing potion while Hermione kept watch at the door.

When Draco finished he ran back over to Hermione. "Okay, I'm done! These teachers aren't going to know what hit them!"

Snickering they exited the kitchens. They walked slowly down the hall, neither wanting to go to sleep yet, but neither willing to say it out loud.

"So… I hope it works out," said Hermione, breaking the silence.

"Me too, "murmured Draco. "The potion should work. As irritating as he can be, Snape is the best potioneer I've known."

Hermione looked at him quizzically. "I thought you liked Snape? You're his favorite student."

"I do, but sometimes he can be sort of… difficult. Since he knows my parents so well he tries to enforce their rules on me at school. He doesn't seem to get that I don't want to be my father…" Draco trailed off.

Both were silent for a moment. Suddenly Draco stood up straighter.

"Granger. You can't tell _anyone_ I said that! Promise. I swear if you say anything…"

"Hey, calm down. I won't say anything." Hermione offered a small smile as reassurance. Draco seemed to relax a little bit.

"Thanks…"

Hermione sat down against a wall. Draco remained standing, leaning against the opposite wall. Another silence ensued before Draco asked:

"So, Granger… Now that you know a little bit about my parents, what are your muggle ones like?"

"Why?" The question came out a little sharper than she intended.

"I was just wondering, sorry…"

"No, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just sort of used to you making fun of me so I didn't want you mocking my parents as well."

_Is it just me, or does Draco Malfoy look like he feels bad?_

Sure enough, a look that could be described as almost apologetic had crossed the Slytherin's face.

"Right…" Draco looked around uncomfortably.

Sensing she wasn't going to get any sort of apology, Hermione stood up abruptly.

"I've got to go," she muttered.

"Granger! Wait!"

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"See you tomorrow?"

Hermione smiled a little bit. "Yeah, Malfoy. I'll see you tomorrow."

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**Could this be a start of a friendship? Follow if you want to know ;) And please review! I really like reading your comments :))  
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	6. Chapter 6

**Another chapter! I'll be going out of town later this week, so I'll probably be posting the next chapter early. I'd rather have it posted early than have to skip a week, so be looking for that as well!**

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As Hermione made her way down to the Great Hall with Harry and Ron, she scanned the crowd for Draco. She saw him in a group of Slytherins. He gave her a quick nod before sitting down at his table.

"Hermione!"

"What, Harry?"

"You were kind of spacing out, just making sure you're awake! Wow, I hope there's bacon this morning…" Harry lost the rest of his sentence at the thought of bacon.

"I bet she's tired," interjected Ron. "Lee Jordan says she was up just as late as he was last night! What were you doing?"

"Um, just studying. You know…"

Once again Hermione found herself saved from answering any more questions at the appearance of food. To Harry's delight, there was indeed bacon. He began piling it on his plate.

"Woah, mate," mumbled Ron through a mouthful of toast. "You realize there's bacon every day? What are you going to do if they ever run out?"

Harry paused, his bacon halfway to his mouth. "I… I don't know…"

Hermione smiled to herself. She knew exactly what she and Draco were going to do next.

She was snapped out of her reverie by a sudden shriek:

"Minerva! What's happened to your hair?" Professor Sprout looked like she was going to fall out of her chair.

"What do you mean? What's happened to _yours_? Wait, what's happened to everyone's?"

Slowly but surely, most of the staff's hair had begun to turn a shocking shade of pink. The students stared in horror, not sure whether or not to laugh at Dumbledore's pink beard. He seemed unfazed however.

"Hm, it seems our trickster has done it again," he chirped.

The rest of the staff didn't seem as at-ease as Dumbledore. They began frantically grabbing plates and spoons, anything reflective to try and catch a glimpse of their new hair. Now the students began to giggle at their antics.

"What are we going to do?" cried Professor Flitwick. "Severus!"

"No! Not again! This is my nightmare!" Snape was trying to cover his hair with the tops of his robes.

At this, the students were laughing at a full roar. They had never seen such a sight. Eight of Hogwarts's teachers were desperately trying to figure out what exactly had happened to them. Some of them began arguing amongst themselves.

"I told you all the pumpkin juice was cursed! No one ever listens to me!"

"Oh, shut it, Sybill!" snapped Professor McGonagall.

Smiling, Dumbledore stood up. "Silence, students."

That didn't quite work, so magnifying his voice with his wand he yelled:

"SILENCE!"

All of the laughter stopped at once.

"Thank you. Now Severus, would you please go get seven doses of antidote?"

Mortified, Snape stood up. "But, there are eight of us who need it."

"I am aware, but personally I like this new look." He stroked his beard fondly. "I think I'll wait until it wears off."

Snape stared at him for a moment before leaving the Great Hall as quickly as possible. As soon as he was gone the noise started up again.

"Who do you think it was?"

"I can't believe they did it again!"

"This is hysterical!"

Phrases like these traveled around the room like wildfire. Everyone was desperate to know who was behind the prank. Hermione pretend to look around disapprovingly, trying to enforce the idea of her innocence.

"Come on, Hermione! You know that was funny! Did you see Snape's face?" Ron looked like he was about to burst with excitement.

"I guess so," she sighed. "I just hope this person doesn't cause too much trouble…" It took all of her willpower not to burst out laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After leaving the Great Hall, a pair of arms grabbed Hermione from behind and dragged her into an empty corridor. This was missed amongst all of the excitement.

"Malfoy! You about gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, but that was fantastic!" Draco looked like he was trying not to bounce up and down.

"Yep, it was pretty great," Hermione giggled at his excitement. She had never seen him so cheerful before. "Hey! I have an idea for what we can do next!"

"Really?" Draco grinned. "You're becoming more devious by the minute. It must be because of me, I'm a great influence."

"Yeah, sure it is Malfoy. I'll have to explain it later, Harry and Ron are probably looking for me."

Draco scowled. "Why do you hang out with those two losers?"

"They're not losers, they're my friends," Hermione sighed. "And they're actually nice."

"I can be nice!" argued Draco.

"Sure, when it benefits you maybe."

"Well of course, how else am I supposed to manipulate events into my favor? All of my friends know that, it's what Slytherins do, Granger."

"Okay, so does that mean we're friends then?"

Draco started. "What?"

"You heard me. We sort of get along when we're not with everyone else, and you just informed me of something that all of your 'friends' are supposed to know. So does that make us friends?"

Draco thought about it for a moment, tapping his chin. Then he said:

"Sure, Granger. I guess we can be friends."

"Cool!" she clapped her hands.

"But we can't tell anyone."

"Obviously." Hermione rolled her eyes.

Draco's next sentence was interrupted by two people calling Hermione's name.

"Meet me in the library later," Hermione said quickly before she ran off.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted. "What are you doing back here?"

"Just talking to someone."

"Who?" Harry questioned.

"No one. Just a… friend."

"Okay Hermione…" Harry studied her for a minute. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

Trying to play off her discomfort, Hermione linked arms with her two friends and began walking towards the common room. "You guys do realize that I can have other friends besides you two, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Ron mumbled. "But don't replace us!"

Hermione laughed. "I wouldn't dream of it, you two are and will always be the best, no matter how strange you may be."

Harry grinned. "Watch who you're calling strange, Hermione. You're the one who stays up studying all night."

The trio laughed as they continued walking, not noticing a certain Slytherin frowning at them from a distance.

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**Oh noes! Is Draco jealous? And if anyone's wondering, I am planning on them having a romance (I mean one of the categories is romance!) I'm just trying to develop it a little bit first ;)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**As promised, here is the next chapter, earlier than normal!****  
Now, I meant to do this for the last chapter, but completely forgot! I really want to thank everyone who's followed/favorited/reviewed, but especially "mickey." Your reviews are so nice and I love reading them! Also, Courtney.1.1... sometimes your reviews confuse me, but you've reviewed almost every chapter so far, so thanks for the continued feedback!**

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Draco was slouched in his seat waiting for class to begin. He wasn't in a great mood to say the least. All week Hermione had been ignoring him, refusing to meet with him or discuss their next move. She had cancelled their last meeting, so he was still unsure of what exactly she planned on doing. Every time he saw her, she was with the Scarhead and Weasel, always laughing about something stupid.

_Whatever, I'm funny, too! She's laughed at me a couple of times… not that I care. No, I don't. So what if I told her we were friends? That was just so she would stop pestering me… right? But friends don't completely blow each other off either…Wait… stop thinking about it… _

Suddenly, he felt something drop into his lap, successfully terminating his internal battle. He looked up to see a head of bushy brown hair strolling by him. Not daring to look at the note now, Draco stored it in the pocket of his robes, eager to read it after class.

Flitwick seemed to drone on about flying pumpkins forever, so that by the time class ended Draco practically sprinted out of the classroom to read Hermione's note. As much as he hated to admit it, he had been pretty bored without her nagging.

_Hey Ferret,_

_ Sorry we haven't been able to move forward with "Operation Moonlight." I think Harry was starting to become suspicious so I needed to throw him off the trail. I have everything we need for the next step. If you want to know what that is, meet me in front of the kitchens again. Also, don't look so angry all the time, you'll give yourself wrinkles._

_ HG_

Draco whipped around looking for a reflective surface and rubbed his forehead.

_I don't have wrinkles! What's she getting at? _

He then noticed another sentence at the bottom of the page:

_P.S. I bet you just checked your face, didn't you?_

Hermione was already waiting for him when he arrived at the kitchens. She had a small stack of papers in her hand.

"So, am I always going to be Ferret?"

She laughed. "Yep, forever and always! But don't be too upset, there are worse animals you could've been associated with."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, a sloth or something?"

"Sloths? Those are the really slow ugly things, right?"

"Yeah, I read somewhere that sometimes younger sloths grab their own limbs thinking that they are tree branches and then fall to their deaths. Not the brightest creatures… but now that I think about it, maybe you would make a good sloth!"

"No I wouldn't! I'm way too attractive to be a sloth." Draco flipped his hair, trying to emphasize his point.

Hermione snorted. "Sure you are. So don't complain about being a ferret anymore."

Draco's mind wasn't functioning quick enough to think of a good comeback, so he instead turned his attention towards the papers in Hermione's hands.

"What are those?"

She showed him the little slips, each with writing on it. "They're notes. Instead of bacon, people are going to get these instead."

"Okay, I like the notes, but really? Making all of the bacon disappear? _That_ was your big plan I had to wait for?"

Hermione looked offended. "It's a good plan! Everyone likes bacon!"

"Not me."

"Well we already know that you're stupid, so just help me get rid of all of it."

"I'm not stupid! And stop being so bossy."

"Malfoy!" Hermione threw her hands up in the air. "I went with your plan last time, so just work with me okay?"

Draco started at her expectantly.

"Please?"

He smirked. "Fine, but only because you're begging."

"You're really annoying. Did you know that?"

Draco's smirk grew even wider. "That's my number one goal in life, to annoy you. I'm so glad it's working."

Hermione had to suppress a smile. Though greatly irritating sometimes, she found his sarcasm to be amusing sometimes. "Whatever, Ferret. Just go get rid of the bacon."

"So, what sort of stuff do you like to do when you're not at Hogwarts?" Hermione had been interrogating Draco continuously for the past fifteen minutes as they wandered the hallways, taking care to avoid any spots where a teacher might be on patrol.

"I don't know? I like flying my broom around I guess. There's not much to do."

"Okay, well what sort of music do you like?"

"Nothing you would know. Why are you asking me so many questions?"

"You said that we're friends, and friends are supposed to know things about each other. I've been seeing you as an obnoxious jerk for the past four years, so I'm trying to create a new image for you."

Draco groaned. "Is it too late to say that we're _not _friends?"

"Yep! You committed, now you're stuck whether you like it or not."

"Great," he muttered.

Hermione sat down against the same wall she had last time they were out. Tonight, moonlight was streaming through a nearby window, giving the room an ethereal glow. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. This time Draco decided to sit next to her.

"Hey Malfoy?"

"What Granger?" He turned to look at her. Hermione's eyes were still closed, and he couldn't help but notice how peaceful she looked.

"You're not really that awful sometimes."

"Uh, thanks?"

Hermione sat up and opened her eyes. "No, I mean it. I don't know if it's the lack of sleep or what, but you haven't been all that mean this year."

"Wow, I really need to step up my game then, huh?" Draco joked.

Hermione swatted his arm. "Oh shut up, you know it's true."

"Maybe, but only for you because when you're not being a know-it-all control freak, you can be alright, too. Don't expect me to go around hugging Potter or Weasley."

Hermione laughed. "Trust me, I don't ever see that happening." She leaned her head back against the wall.

"So Granger, you've asked me about a hundred and one questions all about my life, but I still don't know anything about yours. Tell me, what's it like knowing everything?"

They continued their conversation well into the early hours of the morning, each too engaged in their first "real" conversation to realize how much time had passed. By the time Hermione made it back to bed, she couldn't stop smiling. It seemed like her new friend really had taken a change for the better. She actually enjoyed talking to him when they weren't fighting. Far away in the common room beneath the lake, Draco was thinking the same thing.

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**I realize that the sloth thing was kind of weird, but I really did read that and thought it was hilarious, and I needed more dialogue so I decided to add it in :) Anyways, review please and follow if you like what you've read!  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Guess who got back early!? So I could've still updated on time... oh well. This chapter is really really short, but since I already posted earlier this week I think it'll be fine until next week :)**

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"IT'S GONE!" cried Harry at breakfast the next morning.

All around the Great Hall people were noticing the absence of their bacon. Instead, there was a note resting on each plate where the bacon usually sat. Much to Draco's surprise, the lack of the favorite breakfast food was actually causing quite the uproar.

"Harry, calm down," said Ginny. "It's only bacon."

"Only bacon!? What is wrong with you?"

"Guys, quit arguing and read the note!" interrupted Ron.

_We're just getting started._

"Do you know what that means?" he demanded.

"It means that there's more than one person involved," said Hermione.

"It all makes sense now!" exclaimed George.

"What does?" Hermione asked, genuinely confused.

"That's why we haven't been able to decide what house the person was from," explained Fred. "They must be from two different houses!"

"Oh."

"I wonder which houses teamed up, I'll bet anything there's a Slytherin involved…" Ron was cut off by Dumbledore clearing his throat.

"Attention students." Dumbledore's voice carried across the hall. "This is the third time now that our trickster, or tricksters, I might add, have fooled us. Now, while I'm sure it is all great fun, I would like to emphasize that whoever is involved is technically breaking school rules. Students are not supposed to be wandering the halls at night. Not to mention you have greatly confused our poor house elves."

Draco and Hermione caught each other's eye.

"With that being said, there will be increased patrol now, especially around the kitchen areas. I would advise our slippery friends to cease their activities. Thank you."

Hermione brushed past Draco on her way out of the Great Hall. He slipped something into her hand. It was a note that read:

_Usual spot, 5 pm._

She turned her attention back to Harry and Ron's conversation.

"Ron. Do you really think these people will continue after Dumbledore personally asked them to stop?"

"Of course! They're geniuses. Maybe they'll take a break for a while, but hopefully they'll come back full force after a week or two! What do you think, Hermione?"

"I'm not sure, it really depends on who it is…"

"Well I don't care what you guys think, personally, I hope they keep working together."

_Me too_, Hermione hoped silently.

"So, what are we going to do?" Hermione rested her chin on her hands.

Draco drummed his fingers on the table. "Hmm, I don't know. I mean, I don't want to quit… It's been what, a month since the purple cat incident?"

"Yeah, maybe a little less. But at the same time, it would be kind of risky to keep going, wouldn't it? There's going to be a lot of patrol during the night now…"

"That's it!" Draco slapped his hand on the table. "What if we don't prank people at night, but during the day when they won't be expecting it. Just little things, of course. Maybe the whole school wouldn't notice, but at least it would be fun for us."

Hermione lifted her head from her hands. "That could work… but maybe we should wait a week or two before doing anything?"

"Two weeks? No way, Granger. What am I supposed to do for that long?"

"I don't know, brainstorm ideas, read a book, terrorize children, whatever you did before we started hanging out in the library."

"Terrorize children? I wouldn't do that… Well maybe I would, but whatever. Whatever we do next is going to be great!"

"Nothing too big, remember? We have to start small and then build our way back up, okay?"

Draco huffed. "Fine. What do _you _think we should do then?"

"Ummm… I don't know. But maybe we should keep meeting here a couple of times to discuss things?"

"Wow, I didn't realize you'd miss me _that_ much Granger," Draco was smirking, as always.

"What? No! That's not what I meant…" A slight blush had spread across her face.

_Oh my gosh, what is wrong with me? _

Draco couldn't help but laugh at her panic. "Don't worry, it happens to everyone." He winked before turning around and sauntering off.

Hermione sat there for a moment, completely confused about what just happened. It _almost _seemed that Draco Malfoy was flirting with her? She shook her head quickly, trying to erase that thought.

_That's just what he does,_ she reminded herself. _It doesn't actually mean anything!_

Little did she know, a certain Draco Malfoy was walking away from the library, still smiling as he thought about the girl with the brown hair he had begun to enjoy the company of.

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**Again sorry that it's short, but you already got a chapter this week. If you like the story and aren't currently following it, you should :) and review too if you wanna make my day! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello readers! I just realized that I'm going out of town again tomorrow, and this time I'm sure I won't be back in time to update Sunday :( so here's chapter nine :)**

**Oh and for anyone wondering what year this is set in, I imagine it in fifth year. AU of course because there's no Umbridge!**

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Approximately three weeks had passed since Dumbledore had advised Hogwarts's favorite pranksters to cease their activities. Talk of them had died somewhat due to the lack of action. Draco and Hermione had met a few times in the library, but neither could think of anything that wouldn't result in them getting caught or exposing their unconventional friendship. Life at Hogwarts had become simply normal, or at least as normal as a wizarding school could be.

The first variation in weeks came in the form of potions class. As Harry, Hermione, and Ron strode into the dungeons, they noticed that no one was sitting at their usual desks. Instead everyone was standing around looking somewhat distressed.

"What's going on Neville?" Ron inquired.

Neville swallowed nervously. "Snape is picking our partners today. I hear it's going to be by house, too, so we'll have to work with a Slytherin. I just hope he doesn't pair me up with Malfoy…" he scurried off to warn Seamus and Dean who had just walked in.

Hermione bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. "Why do you think he's doing this?"

"Because he's an evil, good for nothing piece of…" Ron's sentence was cut off when Harry jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. Snape had just entered the classroom.

He folded his hands together. "So I see you have all heard that we're changing things up today. Professor Dumbledore wishes that the teachers begin trying to promote inter-house unity and friendship. So unfortunately for you I'm going to be picking new partners for everyone."

This was met by several groans. No one from the two houses liked each other at all, so no attempts at friendship had ever been made in the past five years.

"Silence class. It's not ideal, but it's not up for argument. So when I call your name, find a table with your partner and get started on today's assignment."

He then proceeded to read names off of a list:

"Potter and Goyle. Crabbe and Longbottom. Thomas and Zabini. Weasely and Parkinson. Brown and Burdstrode. Nott and Finnigan. Greengrass and Patil. Granger and Malfoy."

It seemed that the whole class had stopped breathing at the mention of that pair. Everyone knew (or at least _thought_ they knew) that Hermione and Draco despised each other. The last time the two had been forced to work together was in the second year and it wound up with both of them going to the hospital wing. The class waited, anticipating their reactions.

Hermione forgot for a moment to pretend to be upset. She had hardly talked to Draco at all in the past two weeks and was excited about the opportunity to spend a little bit more time with him. She was saved from her error when Draco protested loudly.

"Seriously? I have to work with _that_? She's such a bossy know-it-all!"

"Hey! Don't talk about her like that!" Ron made a move towards Draco, but Harry grabbed his arm.

"It's alright Ronald," Hermione said sweetly. "I guess the ferret is just a little bit intimidated." She smirked.

Draco was about to retort when Snape said lazily:

"Alright, settle down and get to work on your potion."

Hermione grabbed her cauldron and went to join Draco at a table in the middle of the classroom. As she put her stuff next to his, he turned to her and asked:

"So, why exactly am I intimidated to be working with you?"

"Oh, you know. It can be scary working with the smartest person in the year." She smirked again.

_What, Granger is smirking? Smirking is my thing…I'm a worse influence than I thought! It looks pretty good on her though… Wait no it doesn't!_

Draco played off his internal panic with a cool flip of his hair. "Oh, a bit cocky now aren't we?"

"You wouldn't know anything about that now would you, Malfoy? No, I'm just stating the truth." She began adding ingredients to the cauldron.

Draco stood open-mouthed for a moment, trying to think of a good comeback. Nothing came to him, so he muttered something about her being a know-it-all. Hermione laughed a bit but stopped suddenly when she noticed Harry staring at them suspiciously.

"I think we're being too nice," she whispered.

Draco noticed Harry's furtive glances as well. "What are we supposed to do then?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth.

Hermione grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something down.

_I'm not sure, let's just not talk I guess. Write stuff down on this. _She slid it over to Draco.

_Okay, maybe I should insult you._

_ I'd rather you didn't. You're terrible at it anyways._

_ What? What makes you say that?_

_ You need to think of something new. Bossy know-it-all is old. And so is making fun of my hair._

_ Unfortunately you somehow managed to make your hair look less annoying, so I can't make fun of it anymore :( _

_ LOL thanks._

_ What's LOL?_

_ Oh, it's a muggle thing, sorry. It means 'laugh out loud.'_

_ But you weren't laughing. That doesn't make any sense. _

_ It's just an expression._

_ A stupid one._

Hermione rolled her eyes and stirred their potion. So far it was working just as the book described it. Draco nudged the paper further into Hermione's work area.

_Don't ignore me Granger._

_ I'm not, I just had nothing further to say._

_ Wow, you're boring then._

_ Sorry._

_ It's alright Granger._

_ I'm not actually sorry._

_ Wow mean :(_

Seeing that Hermione wasn't going to write anything else, Draco sighed and began doodling in the corner of the paper. Suddenly, Draco sneezed. Except it didn't come out as a normal sneeze. In his attempt to stifle it, it came out as an embarrassing squeak. Draco's face turned quite red as he glanced around hoping no one heard it or knew it was him. He thought he was safe until he heard a strange noise coming from next to him and turned to see Hermione with her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh.

_What was that!?_

_ A sneeze! Stop laughing!_

This only made her want to laugh harder. In an effort to stop, she buried her face in her hands.

For some reason, this made Draco want to laugh, much to his dismay. He did _not_ like not having control over his actions. He coughed, trying to make the urge go away, but then he made the mistake of looking over at Hermione again, who by this point was practically shaking because she was trying not to laugh. He coughed again and put his fist against his mouth trying to stop the very un-manly giggles from escaping. Hermione noticed this, and an audible laugh accidentally escaped. She quickly put her head down on her desk.

Snape appeared abruptly beside the two.

"Malfoy, Granger, is there a problem?" he drawled.

The pair quickly shook their heads, red-face from holding in their laughter. At the exact same time, they lost what little control they had and burst out laughing. The rest of the class looked on in horror. What was happening?

Snape looked perplexed as well. "Did you two cast cheering charms on each other?"

They nodded their heads vigorously, relieved at the excuse for their continuing laughter.

Snape sighed and rubbed his temple. "Very well, please escort each other out of the classroom until the effects have worn off, you're causing quite a disturbance."

Draco and Hermione ran out of the classroom as quickly as they could, not looking at anybody. Because of this, they didn't see a sign of apprehension cross Harry's face.

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**Sneezing brings people together :p  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**I liked writing this chapter a lot, so I hope you guys like it! I guess it's a little bit fluffy, but there needs to be a little fluff :)**

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Breathless from laughter, Hermione and Draco slumped against a wall near Snape's classroom, making sure they we're out of ear-shot from the door. After finally getting his laughing under control, Draco groaned and put his face in his hands.

"Granger, that was the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me, I'm never going to be able to live it down. I am a Malfoy, for crying out loud. I do _not_ just laugh at stupid things."

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "You are such a drama queen! No one's going to care, they just think we cast cheering charms on each other. It's actually a really believable story."

"I guess so, but it's still going to be humiliating. It's your fault anyways."

"Why does it always have to be someone else's fault with you?" Hermione sighed.

"Because, I'm Draco Malfoy. I'm perfect." He flashed a dazzling grin in her direction.

For some reason Hermione felt her stomach flutter a little bit. Much to her annoyance, she had been finding certain aspects of Draco to be, well, attractive. His smile was one. He didn't smile very often, but when he did, Hermione had to admit it looked pretty good. It changed his face completely, so he looked like a whole different person, someone who was much nicer than he acted.

_I mean, he really is rather good looking… _Hermione turned red at this thought. What was she thinking? Draco Malfoy may be attractive, and yes he may be nice to her_ sometimes_, but she can't just go around acting as if she _liked_ him or something!

"Right Malfoy, you _are _perfect," Hermione said sarcastically, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

Draco's eyebrows shot up at the unexpected praise. "Well thank you, Granger. I'm glad you're finally beginning to u—"

"Perfectly annoying," she added, cutting off the rest of his sentence. She laughed at his crestfallen expression.

"Once again, you're becoming meaner every day," he sighed dramatically.

"It's about time the tables turned a bit," muttered Hermione quietly, not intending for Draco to hear. He did however, and again a regretful look crossed over his face. This time, however, he didn't disregard her statement. Instead his face became slightly tinted pink as he began stammering:

"Oh, uh, about that. I, uh, don't know… For being mean… I guess…"

Again Hermione cut him off by saying, "It's okay, you don't have to explain."

"No," he cleared his throat. "I guess what I was trying to say is… I'm sorry."

Hermione didn't know what to say. Did Draco Malfoy actually just apologize to her? And he looked like he actually meant it, too.

"Wow, thanks Malfoy. I can honestly say I wasn't expecting that."

Suddenly his usual arrogance came back to him as he said, "Good. It's what I do, I like keeping people on their toes." He winked.

Hermione felt herself flush slightly and prayed that he didn't notice.

"Anyways," he continued, "now that we're out here, we should discuss 'Operation Moonlight', I think we need to do something again. It's been too long."

"Hmmm, what are you thinking?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know, I was hoping you'd have something, you're the smart one here."

"Oh, so _now_ you admit my intelligence is greater than yours?"

"Sure, I'll do anything to help my cause. Now think of something good."

Hermione chewed her lip, deep in thought. "We should… uhhh… tie bows onto all of Hagrid's flobberworms?"

Draco stared at her, stupefied for a moment. Then, for the second time that day Hermione witnessed the self-proclaimed master of controlling his emotions burst into laughter. He fell over backwards, clutching his stomach.

"You're killing me, Granger!"

Hermione looked highly affronted. "Well fine," she huffed. "Why don't you think of something then?"

Draco sat up again, successfully quenching his snickers. "No, I think it's brilliant! I'm completely serious," he added after seeing Hermione's skeptical look.

"You promise?"

"I swear Granger. It's so random that it would be amazing, no one would expect _anything_ like that! The only hard part will be getting out of the castle…"

"We can think of that later. Do you think we should go back to class?"

"Nah, there's only a few minutes left anyways. I think I'll head back to my common room. What about you?" He stood up and reached his hand out to help Hermione up.

"Um, me too." She grabbed his hand and tried to ignore the way her heart started beating a little faster. "I'll see you later." Hermione scurried off quickly.

Draco wandered through the halls, lazily making his way back to the common room. Classes had begun to let out and people slowly trickled out of the surrounding classrooms. His mind kept wandering back to Hermione and what had happened today. She made him laugh, which in his opinion was no easy feat. For some reason that he couldn't explain, she somehow made him completely forget everything bad that had ever occurred between them, and just allowed him to enjoy her company. Draco was feeling happier than he had in a while. Though he didn't want to admit it, he thought that she was affecting him as much as he was affecting her. Not paying attention to where he was going, Draco accidentally ran into a first-year Hufflepuff.

"Oh, excuse me," mumbled Draco, not realizing what he had said until he noticed the student staring at him wide-eyed before running away.

_Did I just say 'excuse me?' What was that? What's happening to me?_

He glanced around, hoping no one else had noticed what he had just done. Usually he sneered at anyone who ran into him, regardless of whose fault it was. Now he was just throwing around apologies haphazardly! Is it possible that Hermione could have gotten to him this much in such a short time? He saw the Hufflepuff boy look at him and then whisper something to his friend.

_Yep, I'm screwed._

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**Aww is Draco finally becoming nicer? Please follow/review! I love hearing what you guys think!_  
_**


	11. Chapter 11

**So, I've decided to update a day early! I had a great day, so why not?**

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Draco and Hermione had made plans to meet the next night to attempt their next prank. Though Hermione expressed some concern for sneaking out of the castle at night (she claimed she hadn't thought about it when she made the suggestion), Draco assured her he would figure something out. So, once again Hermione found herself slipping out of her common room to meet someone she was never supposed to be friends with.

She treaded silently down to the first floor where she and Draco had agreed to meet. He was already waiting when she arrived. Hermione smiled when she caught sight of him.

"Hey!" she whispered excitedly. "So, do you have a genius plan to get us out of the castle?" She was terrified of getting caught, but there was no way she was going to wimp out now.

"Actually I think I do. Come stand next to me." He gestured to the empty spot beside him.

"Um, okay." Hermione shuffled awkwardly next to him and tried once again to ignore the heat in her cheeks.

Draco glanced sideways at her. He cleared his throat. "Alright, now don't move." After taking his wand out of his robes, he whispered something under his breath that Hermione couldn't catch. It felt as if a cool breeze had suddenly rushed over her.

"What did you do?" she whispered.

"Look." He pointed to a mirror that was right across from where she was standing. Hermione gasped when she realized she was completely invisible.

"Wow," she breathed. "An invisibility charm! Those are really difficult, Malfoy." She stared at him in awe, then shook her head. "Wait, if we're invisible, then why can I still see you?"

Draco smiled, enjoying the praise. "I cast the charm over both of us together, it's sort of like a bubble. So don't wander off too far or the charm will break."

"I really am impressed, when did you figure this out?"

"Yesterday after we met in the library, I was actually afraid I wouldn't be able to make it work for two people… anyways, are you ready to go decorate some flobberworms?" He crooked his elbow and offered her his arm. "So it'll be easier to stay together," he explained after seeing Hermione's raised eyebrows.

She slipped her arm through his and the two made their way to the main entrance. When they arrived, the two stared up at the massive oak doors. Draco gulped visibly.

"So… do we just walk out?"

Draco shrugged. "I guess so…" Still his hand faltered when he reached for the door handle.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," suggested Hermione.

Hermione's doubt seemed to fuel his determination. "No way, I learned an invisibility charm for this. Come on." Resolutely he pushed the door open a crack. Nothing happened, so he pushed it open further so they could slip through. Once they were outside, he pushed the door so it was almost closed, but not all the way so they could get back in.

"Okay, I'm not sure how long my charm is going to last, so we should probably hurry." Hermione nodded silently, still in shock that they had actually wandered out of the castle at night. If they were to get caught, surely they would be expelled. Draco seemed to notice her silent terror, and nudged her with his shoulder.

"Hey, we'll be fine. I'm 'master of all things stealthy,' remember?"

Hermione giggled and visibly relaxed. "Of course, how could I forget?"

Still linked arm in arm, Draco and Hermione rushed quickly but silently towards Hagrid's cabin. They spotted the box where he kept the flobberworms and slid the lid off. Draco wrinkled his nose, clearly disgusted with the creatures.

"Granger, I still don't understand the point of these things."

"Me either, but at least they don't have teeth." She pulled a handful of purple ribbons out of her robes and handed half to Draco.

"Just don't strangle them," she added before getting to work.

Soon enough, eighteen flobberworms were sporting violet bows, quite an amusing sight.

"Oh, they're so precious now!" cooed Hermione, admiring their work.

"Meh, they're still pretty ugly in my opinion."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, since I can't see my reflection in that window, my guess is that we're still invisible. Good work!"

"Obviously." Draco smirked, but then cringed a bit when he saw that Hermione was glaring at him. "Uhh… let's just go then…"

On the way back up to the castle, Hermione could practically feel their invisibility bubble bursting. Draco must've felt it too because he said:

"Good thing we're almost there, we'll have to be careful getting back in the castle though." Much to his disappointment, Hermione had taken her arm out of his, figuring there was no need for it anymore. He pretended not to notice, however.

Much to their relief, the castle door was still propped open when they came to the top of the hill. They quickly ran inside and closed the door. Draco let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, and Hermione began to laugh. He began to chuckle as well, and then froze suddenly.

"Shhh!," he whispered frantically, grabbing Hermione's arm. He drug her to a spot more in the shadows.

"What is it?" Hermione was suddenly terrified again. She couldn't get caught _now_, not after they had completed their most risky prank yet!

Draco shook his head quickly and put his finger to his lips, signaling her to stop talking. Hermione's heart began to beat faster and faster as she heard the sound she dreaded most: slow, but deliberate footsteps coming from around the corner. Her hand found Draco's as they pressed further into the shadows. He squeezed her hand as the footsteps grew closer. Two silhouettes entered the entrance hall. There was no mistaking that the two figures belonged to none other than Mr. Filch and his twice-purple companion, Mrs. Norris.

He turned slowly, studying the door. He began to laugh slowly, slightly wheezing.

"My, my, somebody's about to be in trouble, aren't they?"

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**Cliffhanger! Sorry, but you'll see what happens soon! **


	12. Chapter 12

**I can't believe I've actually gotten to chapter 12! Yay for me and yay for all of you who have followed and reviewed, because that makes me want to keep writing :) I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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_My, my, somebody's about to be in trouble, aren't they?_

Those words echoed through Hermione's head. She stood completely paralyzed. She had faced a troll head on and been petrified by a basilisk amongst other things, but now when faced with a little man and his cat, she was absolutely terrified and uncertain of what to do. She glanced up at Draco. He didn't seem afraid at all, his expression focused and intense. Hermione realized suddenly that he was looking for an escape route. She did everything in her power to remain still and calm. Wouldn't it be better if they just stayed hidden where they were?

Draco didn't seem to think so. He moved his head slowly towards her ear and whispered:

"Okay, when I say go, we're going to run straight down that corridor. There's a tapestry that leads into a secret passage so we can gain some ground to try and get away from Filch. He can't use magic and he's old, so hopefully we can outrun him. Wait until he turns around…"

They didn't have to wait long. Filch was pacing slowly in circles, trying to figure out if his culprits were hiding close by.

"Go!" Draco took off sprinting, dragging Hermione right behind him. Her hair rushed behind her as they ran.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Filch's voice rang out behind them.

Draco continued running, veering suddenly to the right. Just as he said, there was indeed a secret passage behind the tapestry. Surely Filch would know about it, so they didn't slow.

Draco and Hermione tore through hall after hall. Hermione was utterly lost, but Draco seemed to know exactly where he was going. Filch's threats seemed to fall farther and farther behind, and Hermione was relieved when they stopped behind yet another tapestry, this one concealing a nook that was big enough for both of them to fit in. Hermione was completely winded after their flight, and tried to make her gasps for air as silent as possible. Draco had his eyes closed and was slumped against the wall with his head leaned back, grateful that they had escaped.

They were forced to freeze again as they heard Filch run by, but clearly he didn't know about their current hiding spot or didn't think to check because he passed them by. Hermione let out a long breath, trying to control her heartbeat. They had been so close to being caught, if Draco handn't known where he was going, if they hadn't run fast enough… several scenarios played through her head.

"Well, that was close…" whispered Draco. These words snapped Hermione back to the present. They were safe, which was all that mattered now. Letting out another shaky breath, she began to laugh silently.

Draco stared at her, completely in shock. They had almost been caught by someone who would've surely expelled them and here Hermione was, laughing her head off. This girl was completely insane. And he loved it.

Draco let himself relax and laugh along with Hermione. Their situation was completely absurd. How on earth had they gotten mixed up together? Draco decided that he didn't care. Whatever supernatural force had thrown them together that night, whether it was destiny or just sheer luck, it didn't matter to him right now. As they stood there and laughed, Draco was grateful for the chance he had been given to get to know Hermione. She was so much more than an annoying know-it-all that he had her pinned for the last five years.

At that moment, Draco noticed their hands were still intertwined. Slowly, so not to startle her, he let go of her hand and put his arm around her. He grinned when she leaned into him, still laughing.

"Oh my god, that was one of the most terrifying moments of my life," she murmured, her voice muffled by Draco's shoulder.

"I know," he said into the top of her hair.

Finally Hermione stopped laughing, and quickly drew away from Draco. She smiled up at him, and then looked quickly away. Even with her head turned Draco knew she was blushing. He smiled, loving when he made her embarrassed. That was a good sign for him, right?

"Umm, we should probably go back to our common rooms now, huh?" Hermione brushed the hair back from her face.

"Probably." Draco was disappointed that she wanted to leave, but he really couldn't blame her. "Let me walk you back."

"No, that's okay," Hermione replied quickly.

Draco once again used the smirk that once had irritated her to no end, but now made her smile. "I insist. Plus, you probably don't even know what part of the castle we're in anyways."

"What? I definitely… sort of… well not really," Hermione admitted.

"Exactly. Come along, Granger." He held out his hand.

Instead of taking it though, Hermione chose to simply walk next to him instead. Though she liked where this was going, she wanted to make sure Draco wasn't just messing with her. He sighed and put his hand in the pockets of his robes.

"So, am I always going to be Granger to you?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence as they walked.

"Hmmm," Draco pondered the question for a moment. "I don't know, I supposed I _could_ call you Hermione…"

"But…?"

"Well, _everyone_ calls you Hermione. Or almost everyone. Hardly anyone calls you Granger except for me, and I kind of like that." He finished his sentence quickly and glanced towards Hermione, hoping she didn't think he was crazy. Thankfully, she was smiling.

"Aww, that's sweet Malfoy."

"Yeah, whatever… but aren't _you _going to call me Draco instead of Malfoy? It sounds nicer…"

"Well, can I?"

"Sure, Granger. I'd like that."

"Okay then… Draco." Hermione giggled nervously. The conversation had gotten somewhat awkward rather quickly. Draco seemed to notice this and quickly said:

"Of course if you don't want to or think it's we—"

"No, it's fine." Hermione cut him off.

"You're sure?"

"It really is," Hermione reassured him, smiling.

Draco let out a silent sigh of relief. He then steered the conversation back into their usual easy back and forth. Sooner than he would've liked, they arrived at the Gryffindor common room. They had successfully managed to avoid running into Filch again, which was rather surprising.

"Uh, Draco?"

He started at hearing his first name coming from Hermione. It was strange, but he liked it.

"Yeah?"

"Even though you know where my common room is, you probably shouldn't know the password."

"Oh, right… goodnight…" He turned to leave.

"Wait!"

"Yes?" Draco asked hopefully.

Hermione stood there for a moment, fiddling with the sleeve of her robes, something she did when she was nervous.

"Just, uh… thanks. For everything. You somehow managed to get us away from Flich, and you were really nice… and yeah…" she trailed off awkwardly and offered a somewhat strained smile.

Draco felt a mixture of pride and happiness rush through his chest. "You're welcome, Gragner. It wasn't a problem. I like hanging out with you." He turned red, horrified at his last sentence. Thankfully if was dark so she couldn't tell how much he was panicking.

_Why'd you go and say that you nutter? You probably freaked her out!_

Again, Draco was relieved to see that she was smiling. To save himself from any further embarrassment, he left quickly after saying goodbye.

Both Draco and Hermione returned to bed, a seemingly permanent smile plastered on their faces.

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**Well look at that, finally realizing that they like each other :) PLEASE review and follow if you haven't yet!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I know this chapter isn't nearly as good as the last one, but I really wanted to update today! Also, I'm going to be leaving for Europe next week, so I won't get to update for about two weeks :( I'll try and get another chapter in before then (Hopefully another good one)! **

**Also thanks to anyone who reviewed my last couple of chapters, that was really great! I even got one that said they should turn the Great Hall into a skating rink, which I think is pretty funny actually :) You guys can always put any ideas that you might have in a review or message if you want, I'd love to hear them. Okay, sorry for the long note.. Enjoy!**

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Draco awoke feeling better than he had in a while. He replayed the previous night's events in his head. He shook his head and laughed as he stared up at the top of his bed. Now he was fairly certain Hermione was feeling _something_ for him, but how was he going to make her realize that he felt the same way, that we wasn't just toying with her emotions? Reluctantly he rolled out of bed and began to grab his school robes.

"Have a good night, Draco?" One of his roomates and friends, Blaise Zabini was already up and dressed. Draco did not like the current look on his face, suggesting he knew something that he shouldn't.

"I suppose so, why do you ask?" Draco replied warily.

Blaise laughed as he wandered around the room, making sure everyone else was either asleep or had left before explaining. "You came in rather late last night. Or should I say early this morning? What were you doing?"

"Er, nothing… just seeing someone…"

"Really now? I thought we had given our late night meetings up, Draco. Don't tell me you're involved with this whole prank thing."

Draco scoffed. "Obviously I'm not Zabini, don't be ridiculous."

"So you are! Don't look at me like that Malfoy, I've gotten to know you pretty well since we got to Hogwarts. I don't suppose you'll tell me who your partner in crime is?"

"Definitely not. And I swear, if you say anything to anyone, I'll kill you."

Blaise laughed again. "Don't worry mate, your secret's safe with me. I'm just glad to see you've started enjoying yourself again. See you at breakfast!" With a final smirk Blaise strutted out of the room.

Draco exhaled slowly. He trusted that Blaise wouldn't tell anyone about the pranking, but what if he discovered that he was working with Hermione? How would he explain that? Trying to push these thoughts out of his mind, Draco got dressed and made his way downstairs, excited to see Hermione again, even if they couldn't speak in public.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione was facing similar questions from Harry.

"You're involved, aren't you Hermione?"

Harry had cornered her before she could reach the portrait hole. She had been hoping to sneak out before either of her boys woke up so that she might have a chance of talking to Draco. No such luck. Hermione decided to try and play innocent.

"Um, involved with what?"

"Don't lie to me Hermione. You're one of the pranksters." He stared at her pointedly, knowing her resolve would crumble. Hermione was always a terrible liar.

Sure enough, Hermione's face fell and she grabbed Harry's arm. "Yes! But pleasepleaseplease don't tell anyone! Especially not Ron! You know how he'll act!"

After getting over his initial shock, Harry considered her request. "Okay, I won't tell him…"

Hermione let out a sigh of relief. It was short lived however as Harry finished his sentence:

"…as long as you tell me who you're working with."

"No! Harry, I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because… you'll be mad…"

"Come on Hermione, just tell me. I won't say anything to Ron."

Hermione glanced around nervously, making sure no one else was paying attention to them. Then she stood on her toes to whisper her partners name in Harry's ear. It took him a moment to register, but all at once he exploded.

"WHAT!? Hermione you can't be serious!"

"Shhhh!" She clamped her hand over Harry's mouth to silence his rampage. "You can't say _anything_! You promised!"

Harry changed his voice so that he was no longer yelling, but rather whispering violently. "But _why? _He's Malfoy! He's taunted you ever since you got to Hogwarts!"

"I don't know Harry, he's changed somehow. I promise, he's not the same person! Just… don't tell Ron. Please?"

"Fine. But I don't like this. He could be messing with your head. Just be careful, okay?"

"I will. See you at breakfast?"

"I guess so." Harry turned and walked back upstairs towards his dormitory without so much as a glance backwards.

* * *

Because of Harry's interrogation, there surely would be no time to "accidentally" bump into Draco before breakfast. Feeling less cheerful than she had when she awoke, Hermione slowly made her way down to the Great Hall. What if Harry was right? She knew that he was only looking out for her, but she wished that he trusted her judgment a little more. And couldn't he at least have walked with her to breakfast if he was so concerned?

Draco was keeping his eyes focused on the entrance to the Hall, desperately searching for a glimpse of Hermione. He had already seen a merry Hagrid walk in with a very familiar box to show Dumbledore the improvement in his precious flobberworms.

_Of course he'd be happy about something so strange. _Draco had always been unsure of Hagrid's sanity, but for Hermione's sake he tried not to mention it too much last night.

Finally he caught sight of her. For some reason she was completely alone. Where were her loser friends that were always plastered to her side? She turned and caught his eye. Even though she smiled at him, he could tell that something wasn't quite right. His suspicion was confirmed when she exchanged a strained look with Potter, who had just arrived. As usual, Weasely seemed completely oblivious to everything. He'd have to figure out a way to talk to her later, potentially to figure out how to kill Potter and Weasely if they were making her feel bad. Or maybe not. She probably wouldn't appreciate that.

Draco was drawn from his inner monologue when he saw Dumbledore stand up at the staff table. Beaming, Hagrid stood beside him with the flobberworm box.

_Looks like we're going to be lectured before we get to eat…_

"Attention students…" Dumbledore began. Draco winked at Hermione before resting his chin on his hand and promptly ignoring the rest of the speech.

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**Okay one more thing! In the previous chapters when I had scene changes, I tried adding in things to separate them, but only just realized that they weren't saving. I hope it wasn't too confusing!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**I'M SORRY! I know it's been so long, and I didn't have enough time to update before I left. I've been furiously working so that I could get this posted today. Please forgive me!**

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After breakfast, Draco slipped out of the crowd into the empty corridor, hoping that Hermione would show up. He wanted to make sure she was feeling alright and to know whether or not Dumbledore said anything important in the speech that he completely ignored. What reasons would Harry and Ron have to make her feel bad anyways? She was pretty great (though he had no intention of actually admitting that to her). He leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling.

_Maybe she won't show up_, he thought. _We do have class and she won't want to be late…_

He felt a presence appear next to him and looked down not to find Hermione, but instead one of his classmates, Daphne Greengrass, standing _very_ close to him.

"Uh, hey. What are you doing here?" he questioned nervously. People never came down this hall. Why was she here and why was she looking at him like that?

Daphne tossed her long blonde hair and batted her eyelashes. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. You've seemed so… mysterious… lately." She giggled and took a step even closer to him.

"Uhh… right." He hastily took a step back. Sure, he was used to girls paying attention to him, but after hanging out with Hermione for so long he realized how creepy it was.

Their conversation continued like this, her trying to get closer to him as he tried to escape. Because of this they both missed a head of brown hair rushing across the entrance to the hall.

After successfully terminating the conversation, Draco rushed off to his first class of the, charms. Once again, Professor Flitwick managed to bore him to death. How on earth did Hermione find this interesting?

_She's too smart for her own good…_

As much as he tried to prevent it, his thoughts kept drifting to her.

_Dammit, she's inside of my head! This is not okay… Maybe Snape will keep us partnered during potions…_

* * *

Hermione walked to potions alone, lost in her own thoughts. Harry was still keeping his distance from her, and Ron who was always slightly oblivious, was just following his best friend. She was becoming more and more nervous about her potions partner. After last night she was almost sure that he liked her, but Harry had planted a grain of doubt in her mind. And she had seen him in the empty hallway with Daphne Greengrass. It _seemed _that he was trying to get away from her, but could she really be sure? Now she was in a mental battle deciding whether or not she wanted Snape to keep them partners for this class. Without noticing where she was going, Hermione accidentally ran straight into the backs of the Slytherins who were walking in front of her.

"Watch where you're going _mudblood_," Pansy Parkinson sneered. Most of the Slytherins joined in laughing. She caught Draco's eyes, but quickly looked away. She didn't want him to see how much that word actually hurt her. She was used to having Harry and Ron to jump in and yell at someone so she could escape without notice, but now she was completely alone. Unable to think of a good comeback, she gritted her teeth and walked into the classroom. Snape informed her that they would in fact be keeping the same partners, so she plopped down at a table and waited for class to being. When Draco sat next to her, he passed a piece of paper to her.

_Hey, are you okay?_

_ Yeah, fine. _Hermione refused to look at him.

_You're sure? Where were your friends?_

_ I guess so. And I don't know, I don't need them to defend me every single time. I can handle myself. _She shoved the paper back towards him angrily and tried to focus on Snape.

_Sorry, that's not what I meant, you're just usually together. And I'm really sorry about what Pansy said…_

_ It doesn't matter. Can we talk about this later? I actually want to learn something. _

Draco nodded in consent and tried to focus on the lesson. Hermione was definitely not in a good mood. He missed her witty remarks, and even being called a ferret. But only a little bit.

* * *

After class, Hermione broke away from the masses. Once again Harry and Ron had left without waiting for her, so she wanted to go somewhere and mope by herself. Before long, however, she noticed someone was following her. She didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Draco. When she said she would talk to him later, she didn't mean _now_!

She sighed and stopped walking. "You're following me because…?"

Draco came and stood next to her. "You said we could talk later. It's later."

Hermione sat down and put her chin on her knees. "I don't want to talk about anything."

Draco sat down next to her. "Look, I really am sorry about what Pansy said. I wanted to back you up, but you know I can't…"

"Whatever, it's not like you're a stranger to the word." She finally stole a glance at Draco, and immediately regretted her words. She could see how much the comment hurt as he got up to leave. After all, he was only trying to help, and he hadn't called her a mudblood for a long time.

Draco threw his hands in the air. "Fine. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He began walking the other direction.

"Wait!"

He stopped and turned around.

"I'm sorry…" Hermione bit her lip nervously. "It's just that today's been pretty rough. I didn't mean to take it out on you."

To her relief, he sat back down. "Okay, tell me about it."

So she did. She told him about Harry finding out (he only panicked a little until she assured him he wouldn't tell anyone) and how he wasn't speaking to her. She confessed her sensitivity to Pansy's insult and expressed concern of actually getting caught during a prank. All the while Draco listened intently, nodding to show his comprehension.

"I'm not sure what to tell you about Potter, but I'm sure he'll come around. He and Weasely will be needing your brains before long anyways, they probably can't function without you." This prompted a small smile from Hermione. Encouraged, Draco continued.

"Pansy is a cow, she doesn't know how to speak without insulting someone. Don't even listen to her. And if you want to take a break from pranking, that's completely fine. Christmas is going to be here soon anyways, so I'm sure you'll be wanting to study… Maybe we can study in the library instead of planning pranks? By the way, did Dumbledore say anything important in his speech? I wasn't listening."

It took Hermione a moment to respond. She was touched by Draco's kindness and offer to study with her. It put her mind at ease. Then she laughed at his last comment. "Of course you weren't listening... He expressed his disapproval about us sneaking out of the castle, though he did compliment our handiwork on the flobberworm bows…"

"That man is crazy," Draco said while shaking his head. "I meant to ask you about that earlier. I waited for you after breakfast."

"I noticed, but you seemed kind of…busy."

"No! That's not what it looked like at all! She's completely mental and I was trying to get away from her and she kept following me…" Draco rambled quickly, trying to explain.

Hermione snorted. "Don't worry, I could tell. You should've seen yourself, it was hilarious. You really did look like a trapped ferret."

"I am not a ferret!" Draco tried to scowl but found he couldn't. "You know, what if I go to my dorm and cry every time you guys call me that?" By this point, both he and Hermione were laughing.

"I offered that you could be a sloth, it was your choice!" Thanks to Draco, she was feeling much better than she had been all day. The pair continued to poke fun at each other until it was time for the next class.

In that moment, it seemed that the dark cloud had passed.

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**So there you go! I hope you guys liked it! I know it wasn't particularly exciting but I wanted to add a little more Draco niceness in there. As always, I love reviews. I'll try and update like normal now that I'm back in town.  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello readers! Here's chapter 15 :)**

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In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Draco and Hermione began spending as much time together as they could. The library became their sanctuary, a place where they didn't have to worry about being seen together. Their alcove was sufficiently secluded and the books around them were foreign enough that it was unlikely anyone would come searching for them. As discussed earlier, there was no prank planning (though Draco insisted on doing something funny soon after break). Instead they would study. Well, Hermione would study while Draco merely pretended to read. There was only so much studying he could take. Much to both of their frustrations however, it seemed their relationship had come to a standstill. Sure, they were becoming closer, but neither of them could find the courage to confront the feelings that were more than friendship.

Every time Draco thought about bringing it up, he would chicken out and turn the conversation to something less terrifying and foreign. Never in his life had he been this uncertain about a girl. For lack of better terms, she scared him, Now that he knew her, she was certainly unlike any other girl. For one, she was insanely intelligent. Though he was once annoyed at her know-it-all attitude, he was now amazed at how much she knew and how much she was able to absorb. He had come to appreciate her witty sense of humor, which he realized was rather similar to his own. He knew he was falling for her, so why couldn't he confront his own feelings?

Hermione was facing similar feelings of uncertainty. What happened to the boy that used to tease her mercilessly? Now Draco seemed willing to protect her, repeatedly bashing Harry who was still keeping his distance from her. It seemed as if he had sworn off the term "mudblood" and glared at anyone who used it (though he would never confront them directly). As much as she hated to admit it, Draco's arrogance had become almost…charming. These sorts of thoughts often filled her head during their study sessions, making it difficult for her to focus.

_Great, I'm just like the rest of them now, fawning over him._ Hermione shifted irritably and tried to read her transfiguration notes. Absentmindedly, she began chewing on the end of her quill.

Draco watched her silently, all attempts to study abandoned. As much as he liked spending time with Hermione, he was tired of all the studying. He wanted to do something different, or at least have a conversation that didn't end up with a discussion on the properties of sheep's brains. Still staring at Hermioine, Draco sighed dramatically. Getting no response, he tried again, this time even louder.

"It doesn't seem like you're getting much done," Hermione said without taking her eyes off the page.

"I'm _bored_ Granger. Can we do something else?"

She hid a small smile. After a long pause of pretending to ignore him, Hermione looked up. "Like what?"

"I don't know, anything! I'm pretty sure I've studied more for these exams than I have in the rest of my years combined."

"Really?" Hermione asked, genuinely surprised. "How do you get such good marks then?"

"I guess I'm just naturally brilliant." Draco's signature smirk was plastered across his face.

Hermione rolled her eyes but said "Yeah, I guess so."  
Draco's smirk became even wider. "Wow, thanks Granger! That must be really hard to admit."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, it's completely killing me. Is that enough complimenting for one day?"

"Hmm…" Draco tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I wouldn't mind a couple more."

"Well, feel free to give them to yourself then. Now can I keep reading?"

"Ouch, that hurts. And no! You promised we could do something else!"

"Actually, I don't think I did… have I ever mentioned that you have a bad habit of thinking people say things that they actually didn't?"

"Uh, no? And please?"

Hermione sighed. "Fine, but only because you're begging." Now it was her turn to smirk, pleased that she was finally able to use that line of him.

"Ha ha," he deadpanned. "You think you're so clever, don't you?"

"I like to think so." Hermione flipped her hair dramatically. "So what do you want to do? It's the middle of Saturday and I'm sure there are a lot of groups in the hallways since exams are next week…" Without thinking she reached for her notes.

Immediately Draco grabbed her hand to stop her. "No, no more studying, you'll kill yourself. Okay?"

Hermione nodded, her cheeks slightly pink. Draco flushed too when he realized that he was still holding her hand. He quickly drew his hand back and laughed nervously.

"Okay…" He began slowly. "So, I actually wasn't thinking about today, but maybe the night of the last exam? I was thinking we could…"

"Draco! We said no more pranking!"

"No, we said no more pranking until after exams, which it will be. Besides, it's not even a prank really, more… redecorating for the holidays. Think along the lines of the flobberworms. Well without sneaking out of the castle of course," he added as an afterthought.

"Redecorating?"

"Yeah, I was thinking we could add some purple decorations around the Great Hall, you know because purple is our color. I know it's sort of lame, but it won't mess anyone up and that way people won't forget about us during the holidays."

"Well… I guess it's not so bad… But what inspired that idea anyways? It's not exactly, "Slytherin," for lack of a better adjective."

"Oh. Well…" Draco began fidgeting with his robes. "I actually thought of it a few weeks ago when I was at Hogsmeade… I was in this store and found some purple tinsel… Don't laugh! It was calling my name!" Draco crossed his arms defensively.

Despite Draco's protests, Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity of the situation. "You're telling me that Draco Malfoy of all people actually bought purple sparkly decorations? That must've looked so odd!"

"Obviously no one saw me, Granger," said Draco, still pouting. "Now if you'll stop laughing at me, are you in?"

Hermione pretended to think for a moment, and then flashed a dazzling smile. "Of course I'm in."

* * *

**Thanks so much to everyone who's followed/reviewed so far! I'm glad you guys are liking the story and I hope you continue to, there's more on the way soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

**What? What's this? Two chapters in two days?**

I had a very productive day/night yesterday. I didn't really sleep a whole lot but I wrote three new chapters and I'm really excited about the last one I wrote so I already want to post it... but I can't...yet. Oh well! I hope you like this one!

* * *

The rest of the week leading up to winter exams came and went in a blur. Hermione and Draco didn't see each other at all during that time—Draco had to pretend to study with his friends from Slytherin and Harry, in the spirit of Christmas (or in the hopes of passing his exams) decided to forgive Hermione and she again became part of the Golden Trio. The exams themselves were passed with ease. (Draco had to admit, the extra studying _did _help). Now only one day was between the students of Hogwarts and freedom for a whole two weeks. All of the students would be leaving shortly after breakfast the next morning.

However, Hermione wasn't looking that far ahead yet. She was more focused on tonight, with Draco and his purple tinsel. She shook her head and smiled at the thought.

_He's such a goof and he doesn't even realize it._

She was stilling smiling as she entered her dorm where Parvati and Lavender were packing their things for the break. They noticed Hermione's dreamy smile and shared a knowing look.

"Hey, Hermione," said Parvati slyly. "You seem _awfully_ happy today."

Hermione blushed slightly. "Um, yeah I am. I think I did really well on my exams…"

"Oh whatever! You're in love! We can tell," squealed Lavender. She bounced up and down excitedly. "Who is it?"

Her cheeks turned even redder. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, much too quickly. After mumbling an excuse about going to talk to Ginny, Hermione rushed out of the room.

Both Parvati and Lavender giggled. "Don't worry, we'll find out who it is soon enough!" one of them shouted, but Hermione was already too far away to tell who it was.

_I sure hope you don't…_

* * *

"How do you always manage to talk me into this?" Hermione asked as she approached Draco. She had spent the rest of the day in various parts of the castle with Harry and Ron, avoiding her roommates like the plague. "I thought I wouldn't have to sneak around until _after_ break."

Draco grinned mischievously and winked. "I can be quite persuasive when I need to be. It's all part of charm."

"Yes, you're looking very charming with that purple tinsel," Hermione retorted, eyeing the bundle in Draco's arms.

Draco scoffed. "Whatever, Granger. You're just jealous that you don't have any. But maybe if you're _really _nice to me, I'll let you borrow some."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you." She placed her hand over her heart, pretending to be touched.

"You'll have to do better than that! I jeopardized my dignity for this!"

Hermione grabbed Draco by the arm and began dragging him down the hall. "Whatever, Ferret, let's go turn the Great Hall purple."

No protests were heard as Draco followed, a silly grin aimed at the back of Hermione's head.

After about two hours of arguing over where to put tinsel and how much of it to use ("It's _charmed_ tinsel, Granger! It doesn't matter how much you use!"), as well as debates over who was a better decorator ("I'm a girl, Draco. That automatically makes me win. Everyone knows guys are decoratively challenged. That's why they don't wear jewelry or have a lot of hair.") the Great Hall was sufficiently purple. The two stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"Wow, I can't lie, Granger. This place looks amazing. We did good."

"Do my ears deceive me, or was that a real compliment with no sarcasm whatsoever?"

Draco laughed and rolled his eyes. "It's a Christmas miracle."

"I knew you had it in you, Draco. But you're right, it _does _look good."

They were both silent a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

"You know, I used to hate the color purple. Now, I have to admit it's pretty great." Draco glanced at Hermione out of the corner of his eyes. The right side of her mouth was turned up in a smile.

"Even better than green?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hmm… I don't know if I'd go _that _far. Where are you going?" Draco looked after Hermione, who had turned to leave the Great Hall.

"I don't know," she said over her shoulder. "But you're welcome to join me."

Draco grinned and jogged after her. They slowly wandered the halls until they came to a section with high arched windows looking directly to the sky. Draco and Hermione each took a seat on opposite sides of the same arch so that they were facing each other.

"So, you're going to France with your parents?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, we've done that a few times before. It's a really nice place to spend the holidays."

"Sounds like fun. I'll be stuck here with Blaise and the other losers who decided to stay at the castle over break."

"I'm sure you'll find some way to get yourselves into trouble. Just don't do anything too fun without me, okay?"

Draco sighed dramatically. "I'll try. But only because I know you'll be missing me so much, I can't cause you anymore suffering."

"I _will_ miss you…" Hermione said so quietly that Draco almost missed it.

"Oh," he said, surprised. His brain couldn't seem to think of a response quickly. He stammered for a minute before he said. "Well, now I feel like I'm supposed to say that I'll miss you too."

"Well, that is generally proper etiquette… But don't say it if you don't mean it," she said glancing at him sharply, then quickly looking away again.

Draco chuckled and nudged her foot with his. "I'm just kidding, Granger. Of course I'll miss you. You're simultaneously the craziest _and _the most down-to-earth person I know. That's a hard to find combination."

Hermione's smile was so genuine after he said that, Draco actually felt his heart dance a little bit, pleased that he could make her look like that. He continued to study her as she looked out at the stars. He loved the way the moonlight was shining off her hair, and with the smile on her face, Draco couldn't remember seeing anyone so beautiful before…

_Oh no, _he realized with growing horror. _This is like, seriously romantic stuff here. Am I supposed to kiss her or something? …NO… I should do something though, right? ... Say something! ... Wait, don't say anything! ... What do I do!? ... Shit… I'm so confused… _

Hermione saved him from his internal panic when she stood up. "Um, it's getting kind of late… or early I guess. I think I'll go back now. Bye, Draco." She began to walk away.

Draco stared after her for a moment, still recovering from his mental freak-out. Suddenly he jumped up and ran after her, whisper-yelling. "Granger! Wait a minute."

She stopped so abruptly that he almost ran into her. She turned around and he was _very _aware of how close they were. He never realized how nice her eyes were up close. He could see how deep brown they were, even in the dim lighting.

"Uh… I was just wondering… er…"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to finish the question.

_Dammit, why isn't my brain working!?_

"… was wondering if… I could see you tomorrow before you leave?" He finished in a rush, relieved that he finally formed a coherent question.

He noticed her shoulders slump slightly. That was obviously not what she was expecting him to ask.

_Wait, was that wrong? What was I supposed to say? Ah, I can't do this!_

But suddenly she was smiling again. "Of course! I'll see you tomorrow."

And with a final smile she was gone, leaving poor Draco utterly alone and confused. He slapped his hand to his face and shook his head.

"Smooth, Malfoy. Real smooth…" he muttered as he walked back to his dorm.

* * *

**Ah, so close to romance! Will it prevail? Follow if you want to know (if you haven't already, of course ;))  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Short chapter today! But the next upload will be really good, I promise :)**

* * *

_I can't believe I'm about to do this…_

Despite her late night chat with a certain grey-eyed Slytherin, Hermione awoke rather early and had been waiting for her two roommates to wake up. She needed some advice and was desperately hoping Lavender and Parvati could help.

After everyone was awake and dressed, Hermione awkwardly stood up and cleared her throat. "Hey, can I ask you guys something?"

Parvati and Lavender immediately focused their attention on her.

"This wouldn't happen to be about your mystery man, would it?" Parvati questioned slowly.

Hermione sighed. "Well… yes, it is… but, just don't tell anyone I asked okay?"

Both of her roommates squealed. "Yes, we promise! Who? Tell us who!" Their voices overlapped, overwhelming Hermione.

"I can't tell you who. I'm really sorry but I just can't," she said when she saw their crestfallen expressions. "Will you still help me?"

Parvati sighed. "Of course we'll try. You're _sure _you can't tell us?"

"Certain. That's why he's a mystery, right?"

"Of course, it makes perfect sense now," giggled Lavender. "So tell us the situation."

Hermione took a deep breath. "Okay. So this guy and I have become pretty close since the beginning of school. At first we were just friends, but lately, we've had a few…moments… For a while I was pretty sure he liked me, but lately he hasn't done anything at all! There's been a few times when I was sure he was going to you know…make a move…" Hermione was completely red at this point, and Parvati and Lavender were completely eating it up, nodding enthusiastically. "…but then he gets all weird and starts talking about something random. Especially yesterday! I was _sure _something was going to happen, it was perfect, but then he got all flustered. What does that mean?"

"Oh my gosh, he is so into you! If he gets super nervous that means he's probably trying to figure out what to do! That's so cute!" Lavender looked like she was about to explode with excitement.

"Really? But it's really unusual for him… usually he's pretty smooth, actually."

"Even better for you," Parvati said pointedly. "That means you've really gotten inside his head." She winked and then started laughing.

Hermione chuckled nervously. "Okay… then what do I do? Do I tell him that I like him?"

"NO!" Lavender and Parvati shouted at the same time.

"Never make the first move," explained Lavender. "That's the guy's job, I don't care what anyone else says."

"So… do I ask him if he likes _me_?"

"Hmm… yeah I think that would work if he doesn't say anything first during your next conversation. Are you seeing him today before we all leave?" Parvati chimed in.

Hermione flushed again and grinned. "Yep."

"Perfect." Lavender clapped her hands. "And that way, if he says no, you'll have the whole break to recover!"

"Lavender!" screeched Parvati after seeing a look of horror cross Hermione's face. "He's not going to say no!"

"Right, sorry Hermione. Everything will be fine. Let's all go to breakfast."

So the three Gryffindor girls made their way to the Great Hall together, giggling the whole way there.

* * *

Draco was receiving advice from Blaise as well, though he didn't explicitly ask for it, of course. He was searching for a pair of socks he had seen under his bed earlier when Blaise sprung the question on him.

"So, Draco, have a nice night with Granger?"

Draco stood up so suddenly that he hit his head on one of his bed posts. He whipped around to see the most triumphant grin on his friend's face.

"Ow. What!?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Malfoy. I figured it out a couple of weeks back once you started spending so much time in the library. Really, I'm surprised no one else knows yet. And of course, the way you stare at her wistfully during meals doesn't really help you either…"

"I do NOT stare at her! What are you talking about? I don't like Granger!" He could feel himself turning pink. So much for being cool and collected.

"I never said you did, but your face says it all, my friend. You're smitten."

"Smitten? What kind of word is that? I'm not…"

"Oh give it up, Draco," Blaise interrupted. "You're in way deep, mate. What would your parents say? You being a pureblood, and her being a mu—"

"Don't you DARE finish that word, Zabini. Don't even mention her blood status." He clenched his fists and tried to resist the urge to punch his friend in the face.

Surprisingly, Blaise laughed. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see how you would react. You know that I don't care about that stuff. Question is, when did _you _stop caring?"

"I don't know," muttered Draco. "I guess it doesn't really matter…"

Blaise slapped Draco on the shoulder. "Well, I'm happy for you. Just man up and make a move already, would you? I can see you suffering internally."

"Shut up. I don't need advice from the likes of _you_."

"Of course you do! Now let's go get something to eat. I'm starved. Plus, I can't wait to see what stunt you guys pulled this time."


	18. Chapter 18

Draco and Blaise were already seated when the Gryffindor girls made their way into the Great Hall.

_Odd, _Draco thought. _She never hangs out with them…_

He smirked as all three of them stopped abruptly to take in the decoration. It was much more impressive in the light than it had been the night before. Hermione glanced at him and gave him an excited smile. He grinned back until he felt Blaise elbow him and laugh. He stopped smiling to glare at his friend.

Hermione turned red at the scene.

_Great, so apparently Blaise knows. At least he won't say anything… I hope…_

"Wow," breathed Parvati. "They actually made the place look beautiful. Who knew?"

Lavender nodded in agreement, speechless for the first time in her life.

And it certainly was a sight to see. Thanks to Hermione's expertise with charms, she managed to tint the giant Christmas trees lightly purple. Furthermore, the various orbs adorning them had been changed to various shades of purple, a time-consuming project that was definitely worth it when seeing the results. And of course, Draco's purple tinsel strung all about the room really added festivity to the scene. The final touch was a large purple banner (a collaboration between Draco and Hermione, possibly the most difficult part to create) that said "Happy Holidays" strung behind the staff table. To top it all off, snow was falling gently from the ceiling. It was truly a purple winter wonderland.

"Hello, boys," Lavender said to Harry and Ron as the three girls sat down next to them.

"Uh. Hi," said Ron. Harry threw Hermione a quizzical look. It's not that Hermione hated Parvati and Lavender, they just usually didn't hang out together. Hermione merely shrugged and continued to listen to the comments on her decorations.

"… I mean it looks great, I just wish they'd do something funny again," Fred was explaining. His twin was nodding in agreement.

"Well, _I _think it's perfect," retorted Parvati. "It's great right before the holidays. Very festive."

"I wish they would've turned the whole hall into an ice-skating rink," Lavender said dreamily."

Hermione gasped. "That would've been perfect!"

Everyone stared at her after her outburst, surprised she was supporting rule-breaking so blatantly. Only Harry knew the real meaning behind her words.

"Uh, what I mean is… I think that would've added a nice touch to the whole thing. You know, since they already decorated the whole hall… might as well go all out, right?" She laughed nervously.

Thankfully, the whole group nodded in agreement, and then began throwing in their ideas.

"They should make a suggestion box!" exclaimed Ginny, evoking laughs all around.

Hermione was having so much fun talking to her friends about prank ideas (and taking note of the good ones) she forgot to be nervous about meeting Draco after breakfast. But suddenly, the meal was over, and it was time to confront him. She had a good twenty minutes before she needed to be out of the castle, so she went off in search of him.

* * *

Draco was leaning against the wall in the empty corridor trying to not vomit and hoping no one else showed up. He shuddered at the memory of the Daphne scene.

_Okay, Malfoy. You can do this…_

He could've sworn his heart stopped beating for a moment when he saw Hermione flouncing towards him. Yes, she was actually flouncing.

_At least she's in a good mood…_

"We should've turned the hall into an ice rink," sighed Hermione when she reached him.

"Really, you got that too? Some of the Slytherins were talking about that as well."

"It's actually a really good idea. I think it'd be fun."

"Let's do it then! I'll put it on my 'Brilliant Things to Do' list." Draco said, half sarcastically.

_Wow, that was lame… Keep it together! _

Hermione didn't seem to notice. She laughed and said "Yeah, Ginny thinks we should make a suggestion box and then people can tell us what they want us to do. But that wouldn't work out to well, would it? Then we could get caught really easily and… Oh sorry I'm rambling, aren't I?" Hermione stopped talking, embarrassed.

"No, it's okay. I don't mind. Anyways, I didn't come here to talk about pranking…" There was a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"Okay, then what?" Hermione bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, trying not to look over-excited.

"I had to give you this. Don't open it until Christmas, though!" Draco reached behind him and grabbed a small box, wrapped in purple paper. He handed it to her awkwardly.

Hermione didn't notice his awkwardness. She was too focused on the fact that he had actually gotten her something. She feigned calmness and jokingly asked:

"Let me guess, you got the paper at the same place as the tinsel?"

"Yes, actually, I did." He crossed his arms, daring her to laugh at him.

"No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound rude. That's really sweet of you Draco. Thank you so much."

He visibly relaxed at her words. "Good, I'm glad. Don't open it early, okay?"

Hermione laughed. "I won't, I promise. And I got you something as well, but I was just planning on owling it…"

"That's fine. I wasn't sure if an owl would make it to you or not, so I decided it'd just be safer to give it to you now."

"Well, thanks. Again." Hermione smiled at him shyly.

Silence ensued as Draco tried to gather his thoughts to be able to explain his feelings with as little stumbling as possible. Unfortunately, as soon as he began speaking, so did Hermione. There was much awkward mumbling as they tried to figure out who was going to talk first.

"You go," said Hermione.

"No, it's okay. You can go first. Please."

"Fine…" Hermione took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Okay… I was just wondering… Do you like me?" She immediately turned red and looked away, unable to meet his gaze.

"Well, yeah, of course I do."

"No, I mean, _like _me like me. As in more than a friend."

_Oh my god, I think I'm going to die, _thought Hermione as she waited for his response. After what seemed like hours, Draco laughed.

"Never mind. Sorry I asked…" Hermione turned away quickly, cheeks burning with shame as she tried to get out of the hall.

"No! Wait! I didn't mean… Hermione!"

She stopped at the sound of her first name. She stood there, but refused to turn around. So instead, he ran in front of her.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, I swear. Look at me."

Slowly, she looked up, a mixture of hope and hurt in her eyes. "Then what did you mean?"

Draco shook his head and smiled. "I should've gone first. I laughed because I was just about to admit that I liked you, I was just trying to figure out the best way to say it. You kind of beat me to it though. It's my fault, I'm really sorry. I really do like you."

A small smile formed on Hermione's lips. "Really?"

"Really," Draco confirmed. He could feel the huge grin plastered on his face, and he didn't care how goofy he looked.

Draco and Hermione grinned at each other like idiots for a good moment, and then the most awkward three seconds of their young adult lives ensued with the hovering question: what now?

Draco took a step closer and grabbed her hand. They were close enough now that he was sure she could feel how fast his heart was beating. He tilted his head slightly, and so did she. They moved close, _closer_, until their lips were mere millimeters apart. He could smell her, warm, like vanilla. He was about to take that final leap when suddenly:

"Hermione?" Harry's voice echoed down the hall.

The two sprang apart quickly and hid behind a column. Draco could've sworn he heard Hermione say several curses under her breath. With an apologetic look, Hermione ran off, leaving Draco standing alone, wishing he could murder Harry with every fiber of his being.

_THISCLOSE! _Draco shouted in his head. _Well, maybe Voldemort couldn't kill Potter but I'm sure as hell going to. And it'll be painful as well…_

His thoughts were interrupted by the patter of feet rushing towards him. And before he had time to react, Hermione was back. Quickly, she pressed her lips to his.

"Merry Christmas, Draco," she whispered in his ear before running off again, leaving the slight scent of vanilla behind.

Draco stood completely frozen for several seconds, or it could've been minutes. His brain was in too much shock to accurately process time.

Finally, he recovered enough to move and think properly. He walked out from his hiding place. He liked Hermione Granger, and she completely returned the feelings.

"YES!" He shouted, and in a moment of overzealous joy, he even punched the air a few times. Then, with all of the Draco Malfoy swagger he could muster, he strutted all the way to the Slytherin common room.

_This is the best Christmas ever._

* * *

**Ahhhhhh finally! I hope you guys liked it :) _  
_**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello readers! I feel like it's been a while, but I don't think it's been THAT long... Here's a short chapter for you!**

* * *

It was less than a week into winter break and Hermione was already wishing she was back at Hogwarts. She kept replaying her and Draco's less-than-perfect kiss (no thanks to Harry) in her head.

_Maybe I should've hung around to see his reaction…_

Hermione sighed and flopped down on her hotel room bed. Her parents had gone out while she insisted on staying behind. More than anything she wished she could talk to Draco, but each time she tried writing him a letter she ended up throwing it away. Nothing she wrote seemed to be good enough.

_I'll have to do it eventually, I still need to send him his present!_

Suddenly a faint tapping was heard on the other side of the room. Hermione turned her head to see an owl perched right outside her window with a letter clutched in its beak. She bounded across the room and threw open the window. The handwriting on the front of the letter was immediately recognizable. Jittery with excitement, she opened the letter and began to read:

_Dear Granger,_

_ I sure hope this letter actually makes it to you. If not, I just wasted perfectly good parchment. And who knows what would have happened to the owl…_

_ Anyways, first of all I hope you're enjoying France and that you aren't completely distraught over not seeing me every day. (You just rolled your eyes, didn't you? Am I right? Of course I am.) I realize that such a transition must be tough, and I don't want you to be lonely. _

_ Secondly, I am lodging a formal complaint against your scar-headed friend. Thanks to him, we did not share a proper kiss. This will be fixed shortly after your return. I would also enjoy causing him some (minor) harm. A small hex, maybe?_

_ Your absence is somehow more distracting than your presence, and speaking of distracting, Blaise is driving me insane. He's not nearly as interesting as you are. I'm worried I might strangle him before the break is over. So, in simpler terms… I miss you. COME BACK. _

_ Draco_

_(p.s. A response would be greatly appreciated)_

Grinning widely, Hermione grabbed a pen and paper and began to write her response.

* * *

Back at Hogwarts, Draco was hoping for a reply to his letter. Blaise would tease him mercilessly every time an owl came by without something from Hermione.

"Wow, you've really got it bad, huh Draco?"

Draco threw a pillow towards Blaise's head, which he dodged easily.

"No!" he growled. "If you say that one more time I'm going to kill you, I swear."

"Really? Maybe you should send your girlfriend after me, she's much better at spellwork than you are…" Blaise yelped and ducked as a shoe came flying at his head. He began laughing as he ran around the room trying to avoid the onslaught of flying objects.

All activity ceased instantly as an owl landed outside of the window carrying a letter and a package. Both Draco and Blaise lunged for the owl, causing it to drop its objects and flee in a flurry of feathers. After a brief tussle, Draco ended up with the package, but Blaise had the letter.

"ZABINI!" he bellowed. "Give me my letter!"

Blaise merely laughed and waved the letter in front of Draco's face. "I don't know, Malfoy. You didn't ask very nicely…"

"ARGHHH!" Draco dove towards Blaise, successfully startling him and gaining possession of Hermione's letter.

"Take it easy, mate!" Blaise began walking towards the door. "Have fun with your love letters, I'll be doing something much cooler somewhere else."

With one last dark look thrown at his friend's back, Draco opened the long-awaited reply.

_Dear Draco,_

_ I got your letter and no owls were harmed on your behalf._

_ Thanks for your concern, but I think I'll be able to survive without you for the rest of the break. France is nice, but I'd much rather be at Hogwarts, to be completely honest._

_ Also your complaint has been dutifully noted. Harry has already received many glares from me, so I don't think he will bother us for a while. But NO you may not hex him, he's still my friend. _

_ I miss you too, but please don't strangle Blaise. If you did, you'd have one less person who is able to put up with you for extended periods of time. Just wait until Christmas and I think you'll have plenty of ways to get back at him without causing him any physical harm… Yes that was a reference to your present, and no you may not open it before Christmas! _

_ See you soon,_

_ Hermione_

Draco re-read the letter at least three times over, feeling better by just reading Hermione's handwriting. He wanted to kill Blaise slightly less now, but consequently he was insanely curious as to what Hermione had gotten him. He picked up the package that was sitting next to him and began to study it. It seemed to be a book. Typical Hermione. But what was in the book was the real mystery. He had to fight the urge to open it right away. Sighing, he set it back down.

_Only two more days until Christmas, you can wait that long…_

As Draco got up to leave, he tripped over some of the objects he had charmed to fly at Blaise. Grumbling to himself, he kicked his shoes and the purple tinsel back under his bed where they had been in the first place and then set off to figure out what Blaise was up to.


	20. Chapter 20

Hermione half-heartedly listened to Harry and Ron's conversation as they made their way towards the Gryffindor common room. Winter break had finally ended allowing her to return to the familiar halls of Hogwarts. She scanned crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of Draco, but to her disappointment, she couldn't find him. She tried to act interested as her friends discussed what they had done over their break, but because they mostly played Quidditch, she found she couldn't contribute much to the conversation. Hermione was just relieved that Harry was still willing to talk to her even though he didn't currently need studying assistance.

After planning to meet Harry and Ron in the common room before dinner, Hermione trudged up the steps to her dormitory. As soon as she entered the room, she was assaulted by a slew of questions from her roommates.

"How was your break?" "Did you ask him?" "Yes?" "No?" "What's going on with mystery man?" Parvati and Lavender's habit of talking at the same time always gave Hermione a slight headache.

She took a step back and waited a moment before speaking. "Hi," she started slowly. "My break was alright. Yes, I asked him if he liked me and…"

"Yeah?" Lavender asked, urging her to continue.

"He said yes." Hermione grinned widely.

Parvati and Lavender jumped up and down squealing.

"Are you guys official!? Can we know who he is?" Parvati demanded.

Hermione kicked at the ground and shrugged. "I'm not sure, actually. Sorry you still can't know who he is… I don't think we're going to tell people. Sorry," she said again after seeing their disappointed looks.

"Why won't you tell people? That's weird. Oh well, good for you, I guess. Did he give you that?" Parvati pointed at Hermione's neck.

She touched the chain around her neck and nodded. In addition to some new quills (since he thought she was going to destroy all of her other ones by chewing on them) Draco had given her a necklace in the shape of a heart. Along the edge were tiny rhinestones, which were of course, purple.

The necklace distracted Lavender and Parvati, so no further questions on Draco (or mystery man) were asked.

* * *

Draco kept his eyes trained on the door to the Great Hall, waiting for Hermione to come in. Blaise, who was seated next to him, kept shooting him dirty looks. He still hadn't completely forgiven Draco for retaliating against his mockery. Hermione was right; her present did help in getting Blaise back. The portion of winter break after Christmas had not been fun for Blaise, but entertaining for Draco.

The book Hermione had gotten Draco was a book of prank ideas. Though they were all muggle pranks, she explained that he could use magic to alter them. He embraced the idea whole-heartedly and immediately began to wreak havoc on Blaise.

After a couple days of minor annoyances, such as switching the placement of all his clothes in the dresser and putting cream cheese on his deodorant, the pranks began to get worse. He charmed the soap to fly away from Blaise as he was about to go shower, and after triumphantly catching it, he was not too happy to find that Draco had crammed peppermints into the showerhead.

The final prank had been the day before break ended. Blaise had gone off to do who knows what, and unwittingly left his wand behind. Draco used a sticking charm on everything Blaise owned so that none of it was moveable without another charm. He then proceeded to stick Blaise's wand to the ceiling.

"I hate your girlfriend," Blaise muttered as he saw Hermione walk in with Harry and Ron.

"For what reason?" Draco asked mock-innocently. "I think she's alright." He gave Hermione a grin and subtle thumbs up when she turned in his direction. She smiled back and suppressed a laugh when she saw the look on Blaise's face.

Dinner passed in a blur of stolen glances and feigned interest in the conversations surrounding Draco and Hermione. After several written letters during the break, both were eager to finally speak to the other face-to-face.

As usual, they met in their empty corridor. Draco got there first and leaned against the wall, trying to look casual. The fact that Hermione _still_ made him somewhat nervous confused him. He shrugged his confusion off. The feeling was certainly new, but he found that he didn't mind too much. Draco straightened up immediately when he saw her turning the corner.

"Hi!" Hermione smiled warmly when she approached him.

Draco felt his heartbeat quicken and tried to hold onto his cool demeanor, which he had learned that Hermione had a knack for crumbling. "Hey, I see you liked your Christmas present?" he asked, nodding towards her necklace.

"Yeah, it's so pretty. And what about you? Blaise didn't seem too happy at dinner."

"Oh, I enjoyed it very much." Draco grinned mischievously. He then explained his various pranks, and his imitation of Blaise's reactions had Hermione clutching her sides because she was laughing so hard.

"Oh, poor Blaise! It was all fun and games until you stuck his wand to the ceiling. That's just evil!"

"Hey, it's what I'm good at. Plus, you recommended it." He looked down at Hermione, still smiling and flushed from laughing.

She noticed him staring and felt her cheeks redden.

"What?" she asked.

The corner of his mouth turned up into a half smirk.

"Nothing," he replied. He shook his head, and then before Hermione could respond, he leaned down and kissed her. She stiffened for a moment, and then Hermione felt herself relax into the kiss. Draco slipped a hand behind the small of her back, pulling her closer.

They separated, their noses less than an inch apart.

"I told you I was going to give you a proper kiss when you got back," murmured Draco, the smugness in his voice quite obvious.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling as she said:

"Yeah, you're not too bad… for a ferret." She giggled as a look of mock indignation crossed his face.

"Oh, so we're back to the name calling now are we?"

Hermione nodded solemnly, but was unable to maintain her composure as she started laughing again. Draco smiled and once again found himself staring, feeling somewhat entranced by her happiness.

"What?" Hermione asked, somewhat exasperated. "And don't say nothing this time!"

"Noth—" Draco stopped, flushed slightly pink, and then replied. "I like it when you smile…" He trailed off and turned even more pink.

_Come on, Malfoy! That wasn't manly! _ He scolded himself inwardly.

Hermione, however, felt as though she was never going to stop smiling.

"Aww, Draco! That's so sweet!"

"Yeah, yeah," he waved his hand as if trying to dismiss his previous statement.

"Who knew that Draco Malfoy was such a softy at heart?" she teased.

Draco rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yes, and if you tell anyone I'll…"

"You'll what? That's what I thought," she said when he didn't reply. "Anyways, I should probably be going now."

"No!" Draco whined. "We haven't even talked about our next prank yet!"

"We'll do it tomorrow," Hermione called over her shoulder, already halfway down the hall. And with a smirk and a wink, she was gone.

Draco stared after her and sighed to himself:

"I'm a terrible influence."

He trudged back to his common room, and for the first time in his life was eager for classes to resume.

* * *

**Yay! Reunited at last :) What did you guys think?  
**


	21. Chapter 21

**I know it's been a bit longer than normal, but I've gotten really busy and haven't had much inspiration to write. But today I watched Harry Potter (HBP) and ate lots of candy and felt much better :)**

* * *

The next few weeks passed in a blissful blur for Hermione and Draco. Though stressful at times, their secret relationship was fun and exciting. They became adept at sneaking off to see each other between classes and had scoped out several spots with little foot traffic so that they wouldn't have to worry about getting caught. Potions class had become somewhat of a game for the two; in their effort to keep up the appearance of their dislike for each other, Draco and Hermione had begun seeing who could come up with the worst insults during class. Much to Draco's surprise (and consternation) Hermione was _very _good at the game.

Of course, the two resumed pranking as soon as they could. The back to school prank required a lot of patience and complicated charming, but it was well worth it in the end. One morning the school awoke to dozens of paper airplanes flying around the castle. They were very tricky to shoot down, so the majority of the paper planes lasted through the day. Every now and then an unfortunate student would be attacked by a plane or two, so it was not uncommon to see someone running down the hall with the enchanted paper in pursuit.

Another night, when Draco and Hermione had been in a particularly goofy mood, they decided to charm all of the toilets in the castle so that they would sing when people tried to use them. The first half of the day resulted in several minor heart attacks and widespread fear of entering the bathrooms. Eventually however, most of the school accepted the toilets' attempts to serenade them. It was a truly interesting experience to have a toilet sing you "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love" while using the loo.

Though Dumbledore made several threats of increasing patrol around the castle, Draco and Hermione never ran into any trouble during their nighttime excursions. Either they were very lucky, or Dumbledore was enjoying the pranks too much to put a stop to them. Draco had an inkling it was the latter and sent many thanks to the nutty old man in his head when they successfully pulled a prank.

* * *

Nearly a week had passed since the toilet incident and Draco was eager to do something else. During potions, after being shamefully insulted by his secret girlfriend, he slipped a piece of paper next to her cauldron. That was another habit they had gotten into; passing notes was a subtle way to communicate and could easily be played off as them grudgingly sharing potion notes.

_Hey. We should do something soon._

_ As in pranking or as in hanging out?_

_ Well I meant pranking, but hanging out isn't a bad idea either _

Hermione stirred her potion slowly a few times before jotting down her response.

_Are you sure we should do something already? I'm pretty sure some of the toilets are still singing "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs…"_

_ Good, maybe some of them will stay that way forever! And it's not a bad thing, I hear that Moaning Myrtle has started singing instead of… well moaning. And yes I think we should do something! Can we at least talk about it? You have a free period next, right?_

_ Yes, but I was supposed to go watch Harry and Ron play Quidditch…_

_ Granger. You hate Quidditch. _

_ I know, but I already said I would!_

_ Then find a way out of it! You'll be bored and lonely if you go… You'd have much more fun with me…_

Hermione glanced over and narrowed her eyes at Draco. He merely winked.

_Okay, fine. Should we meet in the library?_

_ No, I have a better idea… Follow me after you ditch Weasel and Potter…_

* * *

After stumbling over an excuse for not going to the Quidditch pitch, Hermione casually trailed a good ways behind Draco, curious to see where they were going. She followed him through a few twists and turns of the castle. He stopped and glanced around. Satisfied that they were alone, Draco ran back and grabbed Hermione's hand. They walked briskly through the rest of the castle, peeking around corners to make sure no one was there before proceeding. Draco led her to a spot right outside of the castle. It was a little ways away from the courtyard where students liked to study outside, but far enough away that there wouldn't be many people walking by.

"Uh, Draco? You realize it's cold outside, right?"

"It's not _that _bad, Granger. If you make one of those blue flame things it'll be fine. And see?" He gestured to the three walls around them. "The walls will block the wind. And it hasn't snowed in a few days so the ground is dry… The library was getting boring."

Hermione glanced around skeptically. "If you say so…"

"I know so." And without another word, Draco plopped down on the grass. "Won't you join me, Granger?"

"Okay, you were right. This _is _nice."

Draco and Hermione were lying side by side on the grass, fingers intertwined. Just as Draco said, after Hermione created a jar of Bluebell flames, their little spot was comfortably warm.

"Of course I was right. You should be used to it by now."

"Oh whatever, Draco. You made me ditch my friends! I'm a terrible person…"

Draco smiled and shook his head. "No, they're terrible people. They were going to make you watch Quidditch knowing perfectly well that you'd be bored. And you call them your friends."

"They're not that bad, Draco. They just don't always think things through, that's all!"

"Sure, but either way you know you'd rather hang out with me."

"Mhm, sure, Draco." She laughed to herself and smiled at the sky.

A few moments passed before Draco turned his head towards Hermione and said:

"Hey, Granger?"

"Hmmm?"

"About our next prank…"

"I'm trying to enjoy a romantic moment here, do we have to talk about this _right_ now?"

"Sorry…" Draco tried to wait a little bit longer, but his impatience won out. "But seriously, I was thinking we could—"

Hermione huffed and turned her head to look at Draco. He grinned sheepishly.

"I was thinking we could charm some of the statues to insult people as they walked by?"

"Do you know how to do that? Statues are a bit different than toilets."

"Well, no, but…"

Hermione sat up. "You know where we have to go then, right?"

Draco groaned. "But it's so nice out here!"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to talk about pranking instead of enjoying the moment." She stood up and held her hand out. "Come on."

Grudgingly, Draco got up and followed her back into the castle. The two aimlessly chatted as they walked. Forgetting to watch where they were going, they walked straight into the path of Pansy Parkinson.

"Draco! What are you doing with _her_!?" Pansy looked highly affronted.

Panic completely overtook Draco. He took a large step away from Hermione and exclaimed:

"I don't know! The stupid mudblood's been following me around for like ten minutes wanting to talk about potions!"

Hermione recoiled as if she'd been slapped. She couldn't think of anything to say and was completely hurt at Draco's insult. She knew he wasn't going to admit to being with her willingly, but did he have to say _that?_

Realization of exactly what he just said dawned on Draco. He opened and closed his mouth, torn between apologizing to her right then and keeping up appearances for Pansy. The look of hurt in her eyes was killing him, but he didn't say anything, instead begging for her to understand with his expression. She turned and began walking away.

Pansy laughed obnoxiously at her retreating figure. "Yeah, you're nothing but filth. You don't deserve to talk to people like us! Come on, Draco, let's go find someone acceptable to hang out with."

Draco had never felt worse in his life as he turned around and followed Pansy. How was he going to fix this?


	22. Chapter 22

_Stupid mudblood. _

Draco's insult from earlier in the day kept replaying over and over again in her mind. She knew it wasn't completely fair to hold it against him, but she couldn't help wondering…

Hermione shook her head and tried to rid herself of the thoughts. After the incident, she hadn't seen Draco again until dinner. He kept throwing her desperate glances, but she found that she couldn't even look him in the eye. After dinner Blaise brushed by her with a note from Draco, telling her to meet him in the usual spot at the usual time. That meant a particularly spooky corridor on the third floor at one in the morning. It had become their impromptu meeting place for their past few pranks.

Rolling over to look at the clock, Hermione sighed. It was already twelve fifty. She had been trying to fall asleep for the better part of two hours, trying to get some rest as she normally did before a late night outing with Draco. But instead she had just tossed and turned, trying to decide whether or not she actually wanted to go meet him. Either way she was going to be late.

After a minute or two more of intense thinking, Hermione finally decided what she needed to do. It took all of her willpower, but she forced herself to get out of bed and to go meet Draco.

* * *

Draco glanced at his watch for what had to be the millionth time in the past twenty minutes. Hermione hadn't shown up yet and the feeling of dread that he had been trying to suppress began to slowly ease its way back. Ever since that afternoon, he felt horrible. The word itself felt wrong when he said it. How could he have called her that almost every day for the first three years of school? She knew he didn't mean it, though. She had to… right?

_But then where is she?_

Relief as he had never experienced before flooded through him as he saw Hermione coming towards him.

"Hey," he said breathlessly. "I didn't think you were going to show up." He was about to take a step forward, but he hesitated, unsure if he was forgiven or not.

"I didn't think I was either for a while."

"Hermione, look." He used her first name, so that she would know he was sincere. "I am so sorry. I don't even know how to say in words how sorry I am that I said that. You didn't deserve it and I didn't mean it. I just panicked and it was the first thing that popped into my head. Please forgive me because I can't stand it if I hurt you." Draco breathed deeply, completely exhausted. He had never given such a long-winded apology in his entire life.

Hermione took a moment to collect her thoughts before responding. "I forgive you, Draco." An audible sigh of relief was heard as she continued. "I know you weren't intentionally trying to be mean and that Pansy just caught you off guard. I just wasn't used to hearing you say that anymore, you know?"

"I get it, and I'm really sorry. I've been beating myself up about it all day. And I never did get to figure out how statue charming was different from toilets, but that's okay, we can do something easy this time. I've got a couple of ideas…" Draco was talking fast, trying to put today's event as far behind him as he could.

"I don't think I can do this anymore, Draco," Hermione said quietly.

He stopped talking. "What? Okay, we don't have to keep pranking if you don't want to. Most of the ideas weren't good anyways."

Hermione looked at him sadly. "I don't mean pranking. I mean this." She gestured between them. "Us."

"Oh." He stared at her, completely dumbfounded. Draco felt as if his whole body had been immersed in an icy bath. "But… I thought… you said you weren't mad at me…"

"I'm not."

"Then I don't get it."

Hermione wrung her hands nervously. "I don't know, I just don't think it's going to work."

His numbness was now replaced by something like mild frustration. "I thought it was working pretty well, actually. So we had a little incident, we'll be more careful next time."

"When is next time? How long did you actually think we could keep it a secret? People would find out eventually, you know."

"Exactly. _Eventually_, we could tell people. You were okay with it before, why not now?"

Hermione could feel her frustration building as well. "I just don't see it working, okay? Can we not talk about it anymore?"

Draco crossed his arms. "No. I want you to tell me why. Did I do something? Don't just make up an excuse, either!" By now Draco was struggling to keep his voice low, and his irritation was becoming evident. This was exactly what Hermione had been trying to avoid.

"Draco…" she pleaded.

"Tell me!"

"Fine!" Hermione took a shaky breath. "It's because no matter what I'm always going to be a mudblood to you." She blinked back tears and refused to meet Draco's eyes.

Draco felt all the fight go out of him at once, like someone extinguishing a candle. "What!? You know that's not true!"

"It _is _true," she said as a tear overflowed and ran down her cheek. She swiped at it angrily, embarrassed to be crying in front of him. "You said so yourself. It was the _first thing_ that you thought of! You probably don't even realize it most of the time, but it's your instinct. No matter what I'll always be beneath you."

"Hermione—"

"You wouldn't even be able to tell your own parents! They'd be ashamed wouldn't they? It was doomed from the beginning. I don't know why we didn't see it sooner."

Now, Draco felt nothing but exhaustion. "Fine. If _that's_ what you really think of me, you were right. It's not going to work."

And with that, he turned and left, every step feeling like a knife to his heart.

* * *

**:( Sad day. Reviews are always appreciated**


	23. Chapter 23

It had been over a week since Draco and Hermione's fallout. They hadn't spoken at all and took to avoiding each other as much as possible. It generally wasn't too difficult because they were in separate houses and had different friends, but potions class had become unbearable. Neither had the heart to even insult each other anymore; instead they chose to sit in stony silence. Most of the class figured that they had gotten sick of each other and were grateful for the silence. Only Blaise, Harry, Draco, and Hermione knew what really happened. Or so they thought.

Once again Hermione found herself being ambushed by Lavender and Parvati when she entered her room. They had finally figured out mystery man.

"It was Draco Malfoy, wasn't it?" Parvati demanded as soon as Hermione had thrown her book bag on her bed.

Hermione blinked. "Sorry, what?"

"Mystery man," she explained. "We knew something was up when you stopped wearing your necklace, plus you got all mopey. And now you and Malfoy don't even talk to insult each other in potions, and he looks pretty miserable too. Well, more than usual, anyways."

"We always thought you two looked like you were having too much fun," added Lavender.

"So, what happened?" Parvati looked at Hermione sympathetically. "You can tell us. I promise we won't say anything to anyone."

Though that was usually an empty promise for Lavender and Parvati, Hermione felt that they actually wouldn't tell anyone this time. She explained the mudblood situation and how she felt that it was an underlying prejudice that he would always hold against her, and then told them what happened the night after that.

"So, what do you think, was it right to be upset over that?"

Parvti twirled her hair thoughtfully. "Hmm… Yes I think you were justified. I mean he knows how insulting that word is…"

Lavender continued the thought. "… but at the same time, he _did_ panic. And you know how his parents are, so can you really blame him for being so biased?"

Silence ensued as everyone considered what had been said.

"So what do I do? And you don't think it's weird at all that I liked Malfoy?"

"No!" exclaimed Lavender. "In fact, we've always thought you two would go well together, you know, after you got past the disliking each other part. We figured it was only a matter of time."

"But you shouldn't do anything right now," said Parvati, returning to Hermione's original question. "You were hurt by what he said, and it sounds like he may have been hurt by what you said. So I think you both need a little bit of time to recover, and then you can make up." She walked over and slung an arm around Hermione's shoulder, "Just wait it out, you'll see."

* * *

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy was thinking the exact opposite. He was pacing around the room ranting as Blaise reclined on his bed, only half listening to what Draco was saying. He had already heard this speech at least three times.

"… and then she said that I'm always going to think that I'm above her, which is absolutely ridiculous, right?"

Blaise bobbed his head in an unenthusiastic nod.

"I mean, couldn't she see how hard I was trying _not _to be like that!? Gah! And now I've been moping around for a week and a half doing _nothing_ when I should be doing something with _her_. I am so mad…"

Tuning out Draco's speaking, Blaise sighed. He watched his friend waving his hands around wildly as he spoke. He used to appreciate the fact that Hermione was able to bring out a more enthusiastic and animated side of Draco, but right now he wasn't so thrilled. Deciding at once to end this madness, Blaise stood up and cleared his throat.

"Okay, mate. Sorry to interrupt that lovely rant, but here's an idea: instead of telling _me _about how you feel... again...how about you go and tell Granger? Sounds good, right?"

"Tell her? What good will that do? She made it pretty clear she doesn't want anything to do with me."

Blaise shrugged. "I don't know! Make her listen. Maybe if you word it right she'll change her mind. But quit whining to me, I've got a headache."

Draco considered this. "You know what? I _will_ tell her! She'll have to listen and then see how wrong she was!"

And with that, Draco stomped out of the room.

Blaise smiled as he rubbed his temple. "Ah, peace at last."

* * *

Draco took large angry strides as he went down the hallway. He made more than a few people nervous as they shuffled to the sides of the hallway, not wanting to get in his way. Then all of a sudden, he stopped, realizing he had no idea where Hermione was right now.

_Hmmm, didn't think this through, did I?_

He decided to go to the library first, seeing how she was almost always there. No luck. With considerably less anger and determination, he made his way to the Great Hall. Perhaps she was still at dinner, or maybe stayed behind to talk to somebody. However, she wasn't there either. Frustrated, he turned and went back the way he came. She must be in her common room.

_Ugh, I can't go there… or can I? Hmmm…_

His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He whirled around.

"WHAT?" He looked down and saw a small first year smiling at him nervously. "Oh, hello, Arnold. What do you want?"

Arnold was the first year Hufflepuff that Draco had accidentally been polite to so long ago. The boy had become rather fond of Draco, always grinning broadly and waving when he passed him in the hallways.

"Um, I'm supposed to deliver a message to you. Headmaster Dumbledore would like you to meet him in his office. He said to come straightaway. Oh, and the password is licorice wand."

"Er, okay. Thanks, Arnold." He began shuffling in the direction to Dumbledore's office. What could he possibly want? He had been doing well in all of his classes, and he hadn't bullied anyone practically all year.

_Uh oh_.

His stomach dropped as he realized what the reason most likely was. How could he have found out? And was Hermione in trouble too? His mind raced as he made his way up the spiral staircase behind the gargoyle. He knocked timidly when he reached the door to the office.

"Ah, yes. Do come in Draco, and have a seat."

He looked around nervously as he walked towards the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. Mr. Filch was there, looking like he was about to burst with joy. Of course, he was holding Mrs. Norris close to him. The cat growled. At least Hermione wasn't there. Draco sneered at the cat and then plopped down in the chair.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore began. "Do you know why you're here?"

"My impeccable behavior this year?" he asked hopefully.

In the corner, Filch scoffed. "More like the opposite, you little trickster!"

Dumbledore put up a hand to silence him. "Now, now Argus. Let me do the investigating, please." He reached under his desk and produced a purple bundle. "Do you know what this is?"

Draco's blood turned cold. It was the purple tinsel he and Hermione had used to decorate the Great Hall.

"I see you recognize it. And do you know where this was found?"

Draco knew it had come from under his bed. Why hadn't he gotten rid of it before? He decided to evade the question. "How many guesses do I get?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Though some of the pranks were undeniably funny, you still must be punished. You realize that, right?"

"I suppose so," Draco grumbled.

"I was thinking two months detentions… Unless you give me the name of your partner. Then I will only make it three weeks for the two of you."

"What!?" Filch cried. "He should be punished for the rest of the year regardless if he gives us the name or not!"

Dumbledore shot Filch a look that immediately silenced him. "What do you say, Draco?"

He thought for a moment. Two months detention was a lot, but was it really worth betraying Hermione again? He thought not. Besides, maybe if she got to keep her perfect reputation she would be more willing to listen to him.

"I worked alone. I only pretended there were two of us to throw everyone off."

Flich was unable to hold in his protests. "He's lying, headmaster! I chased two of them through the castle!"

Dumbledore peered at Draco over the tops of his glasses. "You're sure, Draco? Those pranks would be an awful lot of work for just one student."

"Maybe I'm just talented," Draco replied sarcastically.

"Very well then. Your detentions will begin tomorrow evening. Off you go."

Draco strode purposefully out of the office and took the long way back to the common room, passing through the library on his way. Maybe he'd run into Hermione, if he was lucky.


	24. Chapter 24

Hermione awoke feeling a little better than she had all week. Surprisingly, Lavender and Parvati's advice helped somewhat. Maybe if she just took a little bit of time, the sting of breaking things off with Draco would blow over and she'd be able to look at the situation more clearly. Then she could talk to him, and hopefully they could figure out where they stood with each other. She rolled out of bed and began to get ready for the day. Lavender and Parvati had already been up for a while and were debating over which way to wear their hair. Hermione grinned; she had really come to like the two girls this year. Since she couldn't do much with her curly hair, Hermione decided not to join in the debate and instead went downstairs to see if either Ron or Harry was ready to go to breakfast.

When Hermione entered the Great Hall, the tension in the air was immediately noticeable. All over the place, at all the house tables, people were huddled in groups and whispering.

"What do you thinks going on?" Ron wondered aloud.

Harry shrugged and walked towards Fred and George in a Gryffindor group. "Let's go find out."

Hermione hung back, not sure if she was ready to hear the news. She had a sickening feeling she already knew what all of the whispering was about. Glancing over at the Slytherin table, she noticed that Draco was absent even though Blaise was there. Even more concerning, Blaise seemed to be answering several questions from demanding classmates who looked rather miffed. But if Dumbledore had figured out who was behind the pranks, then why was no one looking at her funny?

Harry walked back over with a grim expression on his face. Beside him, Ron was fuming.

"Hermione," Harry began. "They caught the prankster. It was Malfoy. He admitted to it last night after they found something in his dorm."

Ron had begun mumbling to himself. Hermione thought she heard the words "git" and "ferret" amongst several other criticisms.

Hermione forced to keep her tone light. "Oh, really? That's surprising. But I thought there were two of them?"

"He claims he made it all up." Harry looked at Hermione seriously. "That's a good thing, Hermione. Now we can just forget the whole thing ever happened."

That suggestion wasn't sitting too well with Hermione. Why would he lie about being the only one to pull the pranks?

Ron couldn't contain himself any longer. "The stupid git's obviously lying!" he shouted. "As much as I hate him, he's kind of smart. But he's not smart enough to pull all of that off alone. He's just trying to protect whoever was working with him, which is kind of noble in a twisted way… and do you really think Draco bloody Malfoy would think of tying bows on a bunch of flobberworms?!" Having finished his rant, Ron plopped down on a bench and began munching a piece of toast angrily.

Hermione took a moment to absorb all of the information Ron had just spewed out. Was he really trying to protect her?

"How long does he have detention?" Hermione asked.

"Two months!" he exclaimed through a mouthful of toast. "Apparently Dumbledore said he'd cut it to only three weeks if he'd give up his partner, but he refused to admit that anyone else was working for him! Crazy, right?"

"Yeah, crazy," Hermione whispered. She began to walk out of the hall.

"Hermione!" Harry called after her. "What are you doing?"

"It's not right to let him take all the blame."

"Come on," Harry pleaded. "Just let it go!"

But Hermione was determined to fix this. Ignoring Harry, she continued walking.

"What's she going on about?" she heard Ron ask Harry. Hermione sped up, not wanting to know if Harry decided to explain or not.

Right after exiting the Great Hall, she ran into Lavender and Parvati. She told them about Draco getting caught.

"Wow, so he was behind it the whole time?" asked Lavender.

"Yeah," Hermione confirmed. "But he won't give up his partner and is taking more than twice the detention because of it."

"That's nice of him. Stupid, but nice. I didn't realize he liked anyone enough to…" Parvati's eyes widen as she began to understand. Her hands flew to her mouth. "No! You? Really?"

Hermione nodded. Lavender stared at her open mouthed, trying to make sense of the situation.

Parvati patted Hermione on the arm. "Well, I can honestly say that's the most surprising thing I'll hear all week, and it's Sunday. Good luck."

Trying to control her breathing, Hermione made her way to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle that was usually barricading the staircase had already been shifted, as if it knew she was coming. When she reached the door of the office, she knocked gently.

Dumbledore looked up from his desk. "Miss Granger! What can I do for you? I was just thinking about heading down to breakfast. Is there any chocolate cereal this morning?"

She attacked the questions in reverse order. "Um, I'm not sure. I didn't look. And it was me."

Dumbledore looked at her quizzically. "What was you?"

"The other prankster. I… I was his partner."

Dumbledore was silent for a long moment as he considered this information. "Well, I have to say I am somewhat surprised. I did notice that you and Mr. Malfoy had been spending a bit of time together… it's my school, I know everything that goes on," he explained when he saw Hermione's puzzled expression. "As promised, since I have both culprits, detention will be cut down to three weeks for the both of you."

Hermione nodded, not daring to speak.

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "I appreciate your telling me, Miss Granger. And please know that I think no less of you as a student because of it. You will serve time in detention, and then it will be over. It's not the end of the world."

Hermione wasn't so sure that was true, but she smiled anyways and thanked him before leaving. She figured she had only a few hours before the whole school found out the truth. An explosion was surely coming, and Hermione didn't know how many friendships she would be able to salvage from the inevitable damage.

* * *

**Hermione and Draco will finally meet up again in the next chapter! How will it go, I wonder? **

**And if you want something else to read, I'm starting a new fic that goes along with this one. The main character is an OC of mine, but he forms a sort of alliance with Draco, so he's in it a lot. And it'll go more in depth with some of the previous pranks that got glossed over, like what happened to Blaise over Christmas break. It'll be called "The Adventures of Arnold Bittleby." I'd really appreciate it if you'd go check it out :)**


	25. Chapter 25

**Here's a long chapter this time! Hope you guys like it :)**

* * *

Draco stared at the bucket and the scrubbing brush in front of him and sighed. Tonight was his first night of detention, with many _many_ more to come. His first assignment was to clean the floor of the potions classroom without magic. He shuddered as he surveyed his surroundings. With several mis-brewed potions resulting in explosions and over boiling, the floor of the classroom was not a pretty sight. He had never scrubbed anything in his life and wasn't too keen on starting now.

_Granger had better appreciate this…_

Draco grabbed the bucket and brush and headed to the first spot he saw. Just as he was about to begin, he heard Filch's signature wheeze coming from behind him. He turned his head to see a gleeful Filch dragging a miserable Hermione by the arm. He shoved her forwards into the classroom.

"You've got company. Have fun cleaning kiddies! That ought to teach you something, though I much preferred the toenail treatment…" Filch's voice faded out as he walked out and away from the classroom.

Draco had only slightly recovered from the shock. "Granger! What are you doing here!?"

"Cleaning the potions room, I guess." Filch had conveniently equipped her with a second brush and bucket. She went to the opposite side of the room from Draco and began working on a nasty green spot. "Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to help?"

He began to scrub with bitter enthusiasm. "Why are you here, Hermione? I didn't give away your name for a reason."

"It didn't seem right to let you take all of the blame for something that I was responsible for as well." She continued cleaning the same spot even though the stain had already been vanished.

"Oh, how _noble _of you, Granger," Draco responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That's the true Gryffindor spirit right there. Just, tell me, what made you think that turning yourself in was even a remotely good idea?"

"I don't know!" Hermione half shouted. She flung the scrubbing brush into the bucket so forcefully that soapy water sloshed everywhere. Draco was unsure of what to do as she buried her face in her hands and began to cry. Oops. He hadn't meant to make her cry! This wasn't good if he had any chance of getting her back. He stood up to go over to her side of the room, but Hermione thrust her hand out as if trying to stop him with her willpower alone.

"No! Just… just stay over there." She sat back and rested her chin on her knees. Draco eased back to his designated side of the room and watched as she angrily swiped her sleeve across her face. She laughed bitterly to herself.

"God, this is so embarrassing. I can't believe I'm crying over this."

Draco decided that not saying anything was probably his best move. He resumed cleaning the floor and waited for her to continue.

"I mean… I don't know why I thought it was a good idea. It seemed like the best thing at the time…" She shook her head. "It was really stupid of me. Everyone pretty much hates me, especially Harry and Ron. Parvati and Lavender are really the only people in Gryffindor who will even speak to me. The Slytherins have been brutal of course, but I was expecting that. I'm really sorry, Draco."

Draco looked up. Hermione was still sitting with her head on her knees, but at least the tears had stopped. He shrugged and said:

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. At least I have less detention, right?"

"But now everyone knows about us! Well, that we were friends at least. I didn't even think about that part when I told Dumbledore… I've ruined the whole secret, haven't I?"

The whole secret? Draco groaned.

"Granger, I didn't keep your name a secret because I didn't want people to know we worked together."

"Really? Then why did you?"

He walked over and sat down next to her.

"I just didn't want you to get in trouble." Draco nudged her with his shoulder. "I promised you that when we first teamed up, remember?"

This prompted a small smile from Hermione. "Yeah, I do. That was before we turned everyone's hair pink, right?"

Draco laughed. "Oh yeah, it was! I still can't get over the looks on Snape's face when he realized what was happening. He looked like he was going to die."

Hermione giggled at the memory. "And Dumbledore wasn't even fazed! He really is sort of crazy sometimes, isn't he?"

Draco nodded in agreement as a comfortable silence settled over them. Hermione definitely seemed happier than she had been when she walked in the room. Draco decided it was now or never.

"Hey, Granger?"

"Yeah?"

He fiddled with the hem of his sleeve as he spoke. "So, I didn't tell Dumbledore about you because I didn't want you to get in trouble, but I had another reason as well…"

"And what was that?"

"Well… I was hoping that maybe you'd be grateful, and… well maybe that you'd reconsider. You know, reconsider us?" He said the last sentence with an air of hopefulness that sounded pitiful to even his own ears. Draco mentally crossed his fingers and waited for a response. Her reply took much longer than he anticipated.

"Draco," she began. With the tone of her voice, Draco knew what was coming next.

"Don't. Please, just don't finish that sentence." He stood up and walked back to his bucket, feeling like his heart was breaking all over again. "I just wanted you to see me as something other than an arrogant pureblood."

"That's not what I see you as!" Hermione pleaded.

"Really? Then what's the problem? Everyone knows now, so that's not an issue anymore."

"I don't think either one of us would have very many friends if we got back together. I think most of the Slytherins are still okay with you, and I don't want to mess that up. If I'm lucky, the rest of the Gryffindors will come along eventually."

"Screw the Slytherins! I don't care what they think anymore! And are the Gryffindor's really so thick that they won't like you just because you're with me?"

"I don't know… Please don't take it personally, Draco. I'm sorry…" she trailed off.

"Let's just clean this place before Filch comes back," said Draco with a tone of finality, terminating all conversation for the remainder of the detention.

* * *

So maybe Hermione thought that they couldn't be together, but luckily for her he wasn't about to be deterred so easily. He stalked the halls with venom, his speech already prepared in his mind. His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of his targets.

"Potter! Weasley!" He barked.

Harry and Ron, who were surrounded by a small group of Gryffindors, regarded him as if he were nothing more than pond scum. Everyone else backed up a couple of steps as if expecting a fight.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, haven't you caused enough trouble as it is?" added Ron.

Draco put his hands up as a gesture of peace. "I'm not looking for trouble right now, actually. Do you think you could get your little friends to leave?" He looked pointedly at the others.

"No, whatever you have to say to us, you can say to everyone." The extra Gryffindors nodded in agreement at Harry's words.

_Damn, I didn't expect a crowd. Ah, well. I guess these dorks can hear my little speech as well…_

"Fine. Well, I guess what I wanted to ask was... what the hell is wrong with you people?!"

"Excuse me?" asked Harry. He stuck out an arm automatically, perhaps expecting Ron to lunge at Draco. The red-head seemed to be considering it.

"You heard me. I thought you Gryffindors were supposed to be all loyal to each other and whatnot? So why are you treating Granger like she's not worth the time of day? Is it because she chose to associate herself with me? I don't see how that should change the way you see her! And coming from me, that's saying something."

A few of the Gryffindors began to look mildly uncomfortable. Some even started moving away slowly, as if trying to disappear without anyone's notice. This was good, that means what he was saying actually made the slightest bit of sense to some of them.

"Well, she bloody lied to us for over half the school year!" Ron pointed out. Harry now looked discomforted, for he had known about the pranking for a while.

"That's because she knew how you'd react!" argued Draco. "And Potter lied to you as well, if you recall. Why aren't you angry with him?"

Ron spluttered with indignation. "Well that's different, isn't it, Harry?"

"I think so," said Harry without much conviction.

"See, Weasley? Potter agrees with me!"

"No he didn't! He's just talking nonsense, right?"

"Erm, well I guess I kind of agree with him on the whole lying part…" Harry looked like he was going to vomit. Ron couldn't find any words. Draco smirked.

"Look, Malfoy. We just don't want you to hurt Hermione, right guys?" He looked at his fellow Gryffindors (the ones who bothered to stay, anyways) for support. They nodded in agreement. "She's really important to us."

Draco scoffed. "Evidently not by the way you've been treating her. And believe it or not, she's important to me too. So… just don't ignore her and get over yourselves. Don't treat her different on account of me. She doesn't deserve it, and you know it." Draco promptly stalked away, having nothing more to say. He could feel eyes boring into his back, but he didn't turn around. If his speech worked…

"Malfoy, wait up just a minute!" he heard Potter's voice behind him.

_Yes…_

"What do you want?" Draco acted as if he hadn't been hoping this would happen.

"You're really serious about caring about Hermione? Because if you're lying I swear…"

"Relax, Potter. I wasn't lying."

Harry's next words seemed very forced. "Okay. Well, as much as I hate to admit it, Hermione seemed really happy when you guys were together. I know you had…something… going on. And if you wanna… you know… _be_ with her," he grimaced as if he had swallowed something vile. "I'll make sure the rest of the Gryffindors won't bash her or anything…"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well that's very sweet of you, Potter, but she's already made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore."

Harry sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this but… I can tell her and put in a good word for you.."

Draco paused for a moment, pretending to consider this.

"Well, actually, I had something a little bit different in mind, but I'll need some help."

Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What are you planning, Malfoy?"

Draco rubbed his hands together. "Get the Weasely twins to help so long as they won't kill me. Tell them there is mischief involved; that ought to work. I'll give you the details later. Right now, I need to go gather my troops."

* * *

**What is he planning to do!? A review is always appreciated :D**


	26. Chapter 26

It took a week of conniving, arguing, and the eventual inclusion of Dumbledore for the boys to figure out their plan. Though Draco was skeptical at first of Harry revealing their idea to the headmaster (in the hopes that he would aid them in the execution of their plan), he was surprised at how delighted Dumbledore was to hear about it. He claimed that it seemed like "an excellent opportunity for everyone." Draco had the suspicion that Dumbledore was just pleased to see him working so closely with the Gryffindors that usually despised him. Nevertheless, once Dumbledore was involved, their plan became exceedingly easier.

Draco continued to serve his detentions, sometimes working with Hermione, and other times being separated. Whenever they did work together, Draco was careful not to let anything slip about his master plan to win Hermione back once and for all. At first conversation between the two was awkward and forced, but it slowly became more relaxed even though Hermione's rejection still lingered in the air as an unpleasant reminder. Draco didn't mind, however. If his plan worked, all traces of it would be vanished for good.

And so, Draco found himself sneaking off with Blaise late Saturday night to meet the very people who had been his longtime enemies. The group met at the Great Hall. Dumbledore promised to keep Flich away so they could work in peace. When they entered the room, everyone immediately noticed the absence of the house tables.

"Ah, look at that," said one of the Weasely twins. Draco still couldn't tell them apart. "Old Dumbledore really _does_ want to help us out."

Draco nodded in agreement. "Right. Well now we don't have to worry about that part… So I guess we can get right to it then." Draco tilted his head, surveying the room and trying to decide the best way to tackle their plan. Harry seemed to have it figured out already, because he cleared his throat and then spoke up.

"I think that we should all partner off…"

"DIBS!" shouted the twins in unison, high-fiving each other as they spoke.

Harry looked taken aback for a moment. "Well, I guess Fred and George will be working together. And how about Ron and Blaise, and Malfoy and I will work together."

Ron looked like he was about to protest, but Harry silenced him with a look. Blaise didn't seem to mind; he just shrugged and walked over to Ron.

"Sounds good," confirmed Draco. "Everyone knows the Aguamenti Spell and Freezing charm, I assume?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, so decide who is going to do what spell. Potter, I'll do the freezing part if you don't care." Harry nodded in consent. The rest of the boys murmured amongst themselves.

Harry continued. "So I think it'd be best if we each took a corner and worked towards the center of the room, and then we can finish of the corner that we didn't get. Got it?"

"Let's do this thing!" Blaise called cheerily. Fred and George let out whoops of excitement and sprinted off to their designated corner. Blaise bounded off as well and Ron followed behind, though less enthusiastically.

Harry and Draco went off to a third corner and began working. After a few minutes they found a certain rhythm to their work; Harry would douse a section of the floor with water, and with a flick of his wand, Draco would freeze it. They would repeat this step multiple times until there was a rather thick layer of ice before moving on to the next section.

"So, do you think this will work?" Harry asked quietly, breaking the silence.

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. If it doesn't, it can't be for lack of effort, right? I've got a whole speech prepared though, just in case. It stops just short of me throwing myself at her feet and begging for forgiveness. It's awful."

Harry laughed hollowly. "You _are _serious about this."

"I'm turning the Great Hall into a bloody ice rink, Potter. I thought that part was obvious."

As Draco and Harry neared the middle of the room, they noticed Fred and George had already begun working towards the final corner. Blaise and Ron were at about the same point Harry and Draco were, so once they met in the middle, the boys decided it would be best to slide around and make sure everything was smooth and even. Surprisingly there were very few uneven patches to work out. They continued to skate around while waiting for the twins to finish their corner. Blaise got bored and decided to push Draco over as he skated by, so that he fell gracelessly onto the ice.

"OW. Zabini! What the—"

"Oh, that looks like fun!" said one of the twins as the other promptly pushed Ron down as well.

"Good work everyone," said Harry, who was obviously trying not to laugh as Draco and Ron struggled to their feet. "So Dumbledore said the ice wouldn't melt overnight, but I think someone should come here early just to make sure everything's still set."

"I'll do it," volunteered Draco. "It was my idea, anyways. So, um, thanks… for helping and everything…" Draco trailed off, unsure of how to finish. A feeling of awkwardness had settled in the atmosphere.

"Er, right," said Ron. "Well, I'm beat, so I think I'll head off to bed." All three Weasley's slid out of the room, leaving behind Harry and the two Slytherins.

"So, Draco," began Blaise. "How are you going to make sure Granger comes straight here in the morning instead of going to the library or something?"

"Shouldn't Ron and I go with her?" asked Harry.

Draco shook his head. "Nah, you guys should probably already be here. I've got one more accomplice that you haven't met yet. He'll make sure she gets here."

* * *

"Are you seriously going to go to the library first thing in the morning?" whined Parvati as she, Hermione, and Lavender climbed out of the portrait hole. Going down to breakfast together had become somewhat of a habit for the three girls.

"Yeah," continued Lavender. "Don't you want to eat something first?"

Hermione was about to explain when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a small Hufflepuff boy staring up at her.

"You're Hermione Granger, right?"

"Uh, yes. And you are?"

"Arnold Bittleby," the boy said confidently. "I'm here to escort you to the Great Hall."

"Oh, he's so little and cute! I just love first years!" exclaimed Lavender.

Arnold looked slightly miffed and mumbled, "I suppose the other two can come as well," much less cordially.

Hermione felt quite confused. "Um. Sorry, but why exactly are you here?"

"You'll see. Follow me, please." The boy immediately began walking away.

After throwing a glance at Parvati and Lavender, both who merely shrugged, Hermione began to follow behind the boy. The walk to the Great Hall seemed short as Hermione wondered what exactly could be going on.

Before turning into the Great Hall, Arnold gave Hermione a brisk nod before running off ahead and disappearing. She stood still for a moment, unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to go in. What if something bad was waiting behind the doors?

"Well, let's go in then?" said Parvati uncertainly.

Hermione jumped. She had nearly forgotten that Lavender and Parvati had come with her. Feeling more confident with two more people by her side, Hermione walked into the Great Hall and immediately felt her breath catch in her throat. Beside her, she heard the other two girls gasp.

"It's a skating rink!" squealed Lavender. "They finally did it! But wait…" she turned to look quizzically at Hermione, who couldn't do anything but shake her head. What in the world was going on?

She didn't have much time to speculate as Lavender drug her into the transformed room by her arm. Against the nearest wall students were excitedly shedding their shoes and trading them for ice-skates that magically adjusted to the wearer's foot size. All of the house tables were gone, and the staff table had become filled with items such as hot chocolate and donuts for those who still wanted to eat breakfast. By the time Hermione had gotten on a pair of skates, Lavender and Parvati had already disappeared into the crowd of students. Hermione looked for Harry and Ron, but was not able to spot them immediately, so she slowly skated to the center of the rink by herself.

"Hey." She heard a voice behind her. Hermione spun around to see Draco, who appeared slightly nervous.

"Draco? What… what is going on?"

"Do you like it?" he asked worriedly.

Hermione's mouth fell open in shock. "_You_ did all of this?" She gestured to the entire room.

"Er, yeah. Well, not _all_ of it. I had help. From your friends, actually. And even Dumbledore was in on it. We told him it was a house unity project, but in a way it kind of is, isn't it?"

A sudden rush of emotion prevented Hermione from saying anything for a moment. "You mean to say that you did all of this for me?"

Draco nodded. "I wanted to show you how important you are to me, and that I'm not going to give up on you just because some people don't think we should be together. Everyone who matters doesn't care. I even talked to your friends and convinced them to see some sense, which was probably one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done, other than this maybe…" Draco seemed to realize he was rambling and stopped talking, his face turning pink. Some people had stopped skating to listen; some were staring openly in shock while others had enough tact to pretend to be talking to a friend. Hermione noticed Harry and Ron standing off to the side, glad they were amongst the ones pretending not to listen. Harry briefly caught her eye and gave a quick smile and nod.

Draco took a deep breath before continuing. Hermione tried to ignore the fact that there were several pairs of eyes watching her and Draco, waiting to see how the situation would play out.

"Anyways, I really like you, Granger, and I think you feel the same way about me. I don't care what everyone thinks anymore, and I hope you don't either. So can we try this again, the right way? Please?" He let his arms fall at his side, as if defeated. "I don't know what else to do."

Now all eyes were on Hermione, eagerly awaiting her reaction. No one had ever seen this side of Draco Malfoy before—this was definitely the most exciting relationship debacle Hogwarts had experienced. Hermione stared at Draco, silently trying to work her mind around everything he just said. His eyes were pleading. Harry's smile and nod of encouragement flashed through her mind. It meant she had his approval, but it didn't matter; she didn't need it. All that mattered now was Draco, and everything that he had done for her, how he had changed for _her_.

Hermione felt her mouth widen into a grin as she skated forward and flung her arms around Draco's neck in an embrace, nearly knocking them both over in the process. She thought she heard a few sighs of contentment, even a few cheers from the onlookers. But as Draco steadied himself and wrapped his arms around her, all Hermione could hear was his voice in her ear.

"Thank you so much for saying yes," he murmured. "That would've been mortifying."

Hermione giggled and hugged Draco even tighter. As they broke apart, Draco leaned in as if to kiss her, but Hermione backed up a bit. He looked confused until she said:

"Um, everyone's still watching."

Draco laced his fingers through hers and looked out at the offending crowd.

"OI!" he shouted. "Can't you go off and skate so I can snog my girlfriend in peace?"

Hermione felt herself turn bright red as she tried to cover her face with her free hand. The bystanders dispersed immediately, some mumbling to each other in embarrassment, others laughing, some shaking their heads in amazement. Draco turned to Hermione and smirked, amused by her humiliation.

"Does that work?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Okay, fine, no snogging." He kissed her on her cheek instead. "But maybe later?" he asked hopefully.

"How about we just skate?" responded Hermione, unable to keep the smile off of her face.

"Still bossy, I see," teased Draco, grinning as well. He began to skate, pulling Hermione behind him.

"Yeah, you'd better get used to it."

"I think I can manage."

The Great Hall became a flurry of activity as more and more students learned of its transformation. As Hermione skated with Draco, she felt certain the smile would never leave her face. She surveyed the scene around her with immense glee: Arnold the Hufflepuff was skating circles around another first year, Harry and Ginny seemed to be deep in conversation, Ron was arguing with Blaise and Pansy Parkinson about Quidditch, Fred and George were trying to start some sort of game and were dividing people into teams. It was possibly the most perfect day Hogwarts had ever experienced, one that would not soon be forgotten. The house barriers seemed to dissolve as people laughed and chatted, and a certain couple stole a quick kiss when they thought no one was looking. Even the staff joined in the fun; Dumbledore was surprisingly nimble on his skates. All around the air was buzzing with excitement, with life, and somewhere a toilet was still singing "My Love is Always Here."

**FIN**

* * *

**So. That was the last chapter... I don't even... I'm actually very sad that it's ending :'(**

**I hope you liked this chapter, I made it extra long for you guys. (Creds to Rachael With an A for the idea of the ice-skating rink so long ago, I thought it made a good ending to the story).**

**Thank you SO SO SO much to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited! It made this whole writing so much more fun, I loved reading your comments. I can't believe my idea for a two-part story developed into twenty-six chapters.  
**

**This isn't the last you've heard of me, I'll try and write some one-shots every now and then when I have the time. Feel free to send me ideas/prompts if you have them! Check out some of my other stuff if you want, it'd really mean a lot.  
**

**Thanks again for reading this story, especially those who have followed since the beginning. If you're just finding it, thanks for making it through the first chapters which I know aren't as good as the later ones. **

**Goodbye for now, I hope to have something new to read sometime in the future. :)**

**-Verity**


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